


What the f* are you doing in my dreams?

by Marms



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Advice, Anger, Angst, Awkward Crush, Boys Kissing, Clueless Tsukki, Coming Out, Denial, Drawing, Dreams vs. Reality, F/M, First Kiss, Five Stages of Grief, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Harry Potter References, M/M, Movie Night, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-03
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-04-24 13:55:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 25,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4922125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marms/pseuds/Marms
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After dreaming about Hinata and him in a loving relationship, Tsukishima misses a heartbeat in front of real life Hinata. Let's watch him lose his mind over a bizarre crush!<br/>Or the story of how Tsukishima gradually became less of an asshole to everyone in general because love changes people. </p><p>And a side-story about Yamaguchi's love life disasters. (Sorry Yams)</p><p>(1st person POV)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Once Upon a Dream

**Author's Note:**

> I just adore fluffy relationships between really small and really tall people, it's so CUTE
> 
> ENJOY!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a strange dream, Tsukki notices new feelings for his small orange-haired teammate. Tsk.

_Hinata's lips were a little damp and tasty from the juice he'd been drinking a minute ago,but it felt amazing on my own. He was cradled in my arms, on our sofa, and I liked the way his warmth made me feel warm, I liked how fragile he was and how I wanted him to stay in there, so I could protect him forever. We were watching a National Geographic documentary, as we often do, but this time all I wanted to do was to watch him, to look at his perfect lips and at his freckles and to watch his eyes locked onto the screen depicting a whale nursing her baby. I was the whale and he was my baby. That's what it seemed like, sometimes, because of the height difference of course, but also because of his impulsive temperament and my over protectiveness. I caressed his blazing hair and he looked at me, grinning, then moved a bit so that he could rest his head on my torso. I kissed him on the forehead and heard him mutter my name:_

“ _Tsukki... I feel so good with you, right now...”_

_My heart flinched and I thought about how much I loved this little fluffball of a man._

“ _I like being with you too. I'm happy Hinata, so happy to be with you...”_

_I wanted to capture that perfect moment, so I squeezed him a bit harder, breathed in his hair, and kissed him on the cheek, which made him chuckle. I quickly turned on the camera on my phone and took a picture. I looked and it was probably the best photo of us so far, so I put it as my phone wallpaper and made him look. He smiled broadly, looked my in the eyes and I approached my face, wiggled my nose on his and heard him laugh. My stomach filled with butterflies. I truly loved him, I told myself. If I could be with him forever, and hear him laugh every minute of everyday, I would be the happiest man on Earth..._

_Then I heard a faint noise over my shoulder, looked..._

 

It was my alarm clock. I open my eyes, weirded out. I frown, thinking of my dream, put my glasses on and shudder. If I had a list of the most bizarre dreams I have ever had, this would make it in the top 5. It would even make the top, number 1 freakiest dream ever. To dream about Hinata in itself is already uncommon, but _this_ was... Nevermind. I need to pee and dress up for school anyway.

 

I quickly forget about the dream, and hurry to catch up on Yamaguchi, who is waiting for me at the crossroad. We greet each other, and he tells me about the maths homework he has problems with. I promise him I would help him understand during lunchbreak, and then put on my headphones. We arrive on time for morning practice, go directly to the changing room and then get back on the court to warm up.

 

The third years were already there, chatting in a corner. But then we all turn round to the door because we can hear yelling sounds. Hinata jumps in, quickly followed by Kageyama.

“Yosh! I win today! 45 to 46! I only need to win one more time and then we're even!”

Hinata. I hadn't heard what he was rambling about because I had frozen. My heart had flinched, perhaps even missed a beat at the sight of him. Hinata. What were you doing in my dream this morning? What are you doing to me right now? I shake my head but it was too late, I can feel the heat in my cheeks, and my chest tighten. I am breathless and smiling internally. Hinata was here. Of course he was, he's here everyday because we have volleyball practice every morning. I know that he'd be there. So why am I suddenly happy he's here? I hate the guy. I hate his over-enthusiasm, I hate the way he's always too stressed out before any match. I hate his orange hair... But I wonder if they're as soft as they were in my dream. No! I look at the floor and try to recompose myself. There I am, looking as cold as I always do. And Yamaguchi is staring at me. I flash my deadliest stare and wait for the usual “Sorry, Tsukki!”.

 

We can now begin practice.

But it is harder than it looks. However hard I try, I can't help but feel warmer when Hinata's blocking near me, or when he's in line in front of me, waiting for his turn to receive. And I can't help but look at him when he's away, on the other side of the court. Tsk. I feel stupid. I concentrate harder to look away, and even if I am able to for a minute, Hinata jumps in front of my eyes every time. Is he doing this on purpose? Probably not. His brains aren't evolved enough to have noticed my frustration. The guy's clueless, and that's for the best. What I'm worried about, is Yamaguchi's reaction. He keeps staring at me. But isn't he always staring at me? Is he staring a lot more than usual? If he thinks I'm weirder than usual, he'll eventually try and talk to me anyway. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Practice ends and we start cleaning up.

“Tsukkishima!”

That's his voice, isn't it? I freeze then manage to turn slowly, and act casual.

“Tsk. What, Hinata?”

“Help me with the net. I can't reach it and Takeda-Sensei said that I couldn't climb on the pole.”

I come closer and feel weaker. I even notice that my hands are a bit shakey. Nevertheless, nothing shows through and I take the net off and hand it to Hinata's waiting hands, careful not to touch them. In spite of my self control, I can feel my heart beat faster and I shake my head once again. My fist clench a bit when I turn around, I am so angry with myself. Yamaguchi appears in front of me and asks what is wrong.

“Tsk. Nothing.”

“If you say so. But I know you and you look upset! I just wanted to know why and cheer you up, Tsukki!” he says, putting his hand to the back of his head.

“I hate you reading me like that.”

“Sorry, Tsukki!”

I really don't like him reading me like that. Soon enough he's going to know why I am irritated and God knows how he will react.

 

***

 

During class hours, my mind cannot settle. I scribble down some notes, but my attention is scattered. I think of Hinata's hair blowing in the wind. I doodle Hinata's hair blowing in the wind. I close my eyes and mutter to myself:

“Idiot Hinata.”

Yamaguchi looks at me.

“Did you say something Tsukki?” he murmurs.

I look at him and shake my head from left to right. But now I can feel my cheeks burning. It's never going to go unnoticed, I think, but Yamaguchi shrugs, smiles and looks back to the chalkboard.


	2. Put me to sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukki is cute and clueless, while his obsession grows bigger and bigger.

 I have been trying to concentrate on this damn maths homework for more than half an hour, but my mind keeps wandering where I don't want it to wander. I am reminiscing of this morning's dream and the sensations it made me feel. I especially dwell on Hinata's smell, which I imagine is not the same as his real smell. It felt so real, though, and I cannot fathom the idea that I am not able to forget this specific odor. I also remember his warmth, and how good it felt to feel it on my own skin.

Of course, anyone's warmth could replace Hinata's, but at the moment I can't think of anyone that would do the job. It has to do with the fact that I am currently not interested in anyone in particular. Not even attracted physically to anyone, really. I mean, Kiyoko-sempai is pretty enough, for example, but when I think of her in my arms, I don't feel anything... Nevermind, let's get back to maths.

 

And also, his eyes. Big hazelnut eyes, looking marvelled, that I would drown in. The way his long lashes brushed the air when he blinked, the way the light reflected on his humid eyeballs. And when he looked at me, when our noses were touching, I could clearly see the multiple colours his iris is actually made of. Golden rays at the center, near the pupil, and darker patches of brown sprinkling the rest of it. I need to know if this is actually true, because it should be beautiful, and I wonder why I never saw how beautiful Hinata's eyes were. Wait, how would I manage to see Hinata close enough in order to look at him that way, without anyone noticing?

Maybe I'll wait for Hinata to do something stupid, it will be easy, and then I will just lean in, my face in front of his, and say nothing. If I look frightening enough, everybody will think I am just sick and tired of him fooling around. That would be a good plan, but what if I freeze for too long? I better not do anything of the sort. Plus Yamaguchi already has his eyes on me, maybe he even has doubts. Wait, what am I thinking of? Maths.

This question is really difficult, I should probably go to bed and start again tomorrow. Before turning away to undress and jump into bed, I look at today's notes and my doodles of Hinata's hair. I take a blank sheet of paper, redraw the hair and add a few more features. I smile when I look at my quick doodle of Hinata, simple but accurate. I love the way he smiles to me.

 

What am I doing.

I rumple the paper and throw it into the bin. Never again will I draw Hinata.

After taking a cold shower, still fulminating against myself, I get in my bed and turn on my music device. It's too loud so I turn it down a bit. The sweet voice relaxes me and I close my eyes. She's singing about a love that's impossible to fulfil. I change the song to minimalist music, that's better. The melody is rythmic but soft, and it allows my mind to calm down.

I listen carefully to the beat, and it reminds me of the thump of a ball on the floor. Suddenly I imagine myself in a volleyball match, wearing the Karasuno jersey proudly. Everyone in the public is scanding my name because I have just earned us a magnificent winning point. I am standing tall, eyes looking in the distance. The team is hyper and the whistle blows, it's my turn to serve. This time, I am giving my all, and I try for a smash serve. It's of course an ace, and I feel pride flowing in my veins. Every member of the team is cheering me on, and even if I don't like being hit on the back by Tanaka and Nishinoya, I don't mind.

I serve again, and the opposing libero cannot pass the ball to the setter correctly so we win a point once more. That was the winning set point. Our team flies up in the air, and he jumps higher than anyone else, his hair full of sweat shining in the hall neon lights. He looks at me with the biggest smile and says:

“Tsukki! Such class! Teach me how to serve like that!”

I look down at his face, he's in complete awe and it makes him cuter than ever. I wish he would look at me like that all the time. When I reply that I will help him master the serve, he starts beaming, grinning ever wider, his wonderful eyes closed in joy. I want to take him in my arms and fly him around...

I open my eyes in the dark. My heart is beating a little to fast, and I am feeling a little too warm. The minimalistic music is playing in my ears, still sounding a lot like a ball thumping on the wooden floor of the volleyball hall. I shut it off and turn around to sleep, grumpy and frustrated.

 

But I cannot sleep.

 

My eyes are open wide and my mouth's a bit dry. I stand up to fetch a glass of water from the kitchen, then go back to sit on my bed. What is happening to me? I have never felt so clueless. Why is Hinata always in the corner of my mind?

I think about sending a message to Yamaguchi, who might know what it is. But what to say without blurting out the entire thing? I look for my phone in my bed and start typing.

 **Tsukki ^.^ :** _Oi, Yamaguchi_. 

Good start.

 **Tsukki ^.^ :** _What's it called when you think about one person in particular all the time?'_  

I'm not quite happy about the wording, but that'll have to do. I hit send. Yamaguchi is still awake, because he anwers pretty rapidly.

 **Yamaguchi:** _Hi Tsukki! Hum, that might be “obsession”, why?_

 **Tsukki ^.^ :** _Thanks._

 Obsession. I'm obsessed with Hinata. That is one way to put it.

**Yamaguchi:** _Are you obsessed with someone, Tsukki? Is someone on your mind? n_n_  

I don't want to answer that. I really don't, Yamaguchi. But on the other hand, you might be able to help me somehow. I sigh and type.

**Tsukki ^.^ :** _Yes, and it's interfering with my concentration. How do I stop. Need tips._

**Yamaguchi:** _Hum, Tsukki's in love! \uwu/ But you can't stop obsessing like that, silly! But if I were you, I'd watch an anime to get her off my thoughts._

 

… In love? Ew, no! I'm just thinking a little too much about one guy, that's not being in love! And I already tried watching something to keep him off my mind, and all that was on that damn TV were animal documentaries! Just to think of it makes me furious. My jaw hurts from being so tense. Can I just forget about him for a minute?

**Tsukki ^.^ :** Thanks for the lame advice. And I am not in love, let that be crystal clear. Good night.'

 

I am not going to let that thought settle in inside my mind. Love. Tsk. Whatever.

Drowsily, I put my hand on my face, massaging my forehead. I just want to sleep forever.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yamaguchi is really interested in Tsukki's love life, or even his life in general!! You can guess WHY  
> next chapter: a confession, maybe?


	3. Lovesick Symptoms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Realisation hits him hard, so Tsukki explodes. Boom.

 The next morning, my head feels heavy. I am not hungry at all. I push myself to drink a bowl of hot water, because I can't go on the court with an empty stomach, even if it is just water. I look at myself in the hallway mirror and sigh: my hair needs cutting. I try to put it back into place as well as I can, but it' hopeless. My face is a bit pale, too. I look awful, actually. I frown but open the door nevertheless, it's time for morning practice.

I arrive at the usual crossroad just in time to catch sight of Yamaguchi, grinning widely. Which reminds me about the question asked yesterday night. I sigh in advance before he can talk, because I know what he is about to say. And indeed:

“Tsukki, hello! Did you sleep well, thinking of your crush, then?”

“I told you before. I am not in love.”

I look at him like I want to kill him, but apparently he only saw my blushing cheeks.

“Look at you, all red in the face! I bet your stomach is in knots, too...”

“I am _not_ in _love,_ Yamaguchi!”

I shouted much louder than I wanted to. Sorry Yamaguchi. Why am I so tense? I need to make it up to him, because he is looking like an abandonned puppy right now and I hate him looking like that.

“Sorry, Tsukki...”

He looks down at his shoes.

“Nah. I'm sorry. But cut it out.”

There, he smiles. I can't stand fighting with my best friend.

“I do feel tight in my stomach though, you were right, I add cautiously. I wasn't able to eat anything this morning.”

“Maybe you're sick.”

I nod.

“ _Love_ sick!” He teases me then burst into laughing. “Sorry, Tsukki!”

I let out a grunt of disapproval and make him swear to never refer to that story ever again.

 

We arrive at the gym and everyone is already warming up. I immediately lock my eyes on Hinata, shrug off the feeling of my heart bumping loud in my chest and go get changed quickly. When I come back, Yamaguchi on my feet, I run towards the court but before I know it, a small orange-haired boy jumps right in front of me to hit a ball over the net. I can't stop my course with enough reflex and Hinata is still in the air when we hit, his chest against my face. He's immediately thrown at Kageyama's feet, and I am unable to move, eyes wide open with fear and confusion.

“Oi, Tsukishima, look where you're going!” Kageyama says.

I manage to regain my speaking ability and mumble with as much sarcasm as I can:

“Sorry King, he's so little I can't see him.”

Even more quietly, I crouch to murmur to Hinata, without looking at him directly in the eye:

“Did I hurt you?”

“No”, he says, grinning, “it's all right!”

I hold my hand out to help him up, but he jumps up by himself, which is a relief for me. I am feeling already hot enough in my cheeks from hitting his chest, and holding his hand would have been the death of my face from blushing too hard.

I turn around to go get a ball, but I can't help feeling on my face where I hit Hinata. I close my eyes, breathe, and try to remember what it feels like. I will definitely use those sensations in a daydream later on, if...

No wait, this is wrong. Maybe?

Memories from earlier come back to me:  _obsessed._ I really obsess over Hinata, that is for sure. I cannot deny it anymore, even if it makes me mad. But then, why do I want to obsess more? Why do I need more of Hinata on my face? Am I...

“Are you in need of new batteries?”

That is Hinata, behind me. I had stopped moving in front of the cart full of volley balls, thinking to myself, paralyzed. And Hinata is now staring at my back, laughing at his own joke and hitting Nishinoya on the back for support. The latter snickers and adds

“As long as you're charged for when we have a big game, I don't mind a Robot-Tsukishima!”

Hinata's burst of laugh pierces my heart like a javelin, it's not even that funny, I am in no way a stupid robot. But when I turn around to reply a snarky comment, all I can focus on is Nishinoya buzzing and moving robot-like, while Hinata's practically rolling on the floor, holding his ribcage.

“Tsk.”

This is all I can manage before fleeing, faking an urgent need to go to the toilet. But I am hurt. And in the cubicle, I resist hitting my head on the wall as much I can, I resist the tears and the ache in my chest.

 

_ Lovesick _ . A tear forms at the corner of my eye. It hits me hard, and I groan out of frustration. I have been thinking about Hinata for two days straight, not even able to focus on anything but him. Even my favorite anime didn't do the trick. Hinata is always on my mind, no matter what. I couldn't sleep well last night because of those feelings that I have, and this morning, I couldn't swallow anything because my stomach was already filled, with butterflies. Butterflies with Hinata's name and Hinata's face all over them. I hate feeling this stupid. 

 

Yamaguchi was right: I am in love.

But this doesn't mean that it will last. It won't last, it has to.

 

After I wipe my eyes, wash my face and put my glasses back into place, I feel ready to fight. I am ready to fight anyone, for anything. And on the court, I am seeing red. So I smash, and I block, and I shout out to let it all out.

“MORE!”

My teammates look at me like I am an untamed beast, and that's exactly how I feel. Some of them pat me on the back because I am on fire, but others, like Azumane Asahi, stay as far away from me as they can. I need to let it out. Whatever is building inside of me, I need to not feel it, and all I can do right now is letting it all out. I am jumping, running, smashing, and doing all I can to sweat it out. Daichi is looking proud but cautious, and congratulates me on every amazing combinaison I succeed in. I now feel so hot that I want to take my shirt off, it is burning my skin. But I go on, I throw the ball to Kageyama, who passes perfectly, and I jump to smash again but the ball flies way over the court line.

I land on my feet, eyes watering, and anger boiling up inside. My fists clench so hard my knuckles are white. I cannot take that failure, not today. I let out the craziest scream of rage. Yamaguchi's behind me, about to put his hand on my shoulder to console me, but he freezes right away. He's in shock, even he has never heard that many decibels coming out from my throat.

“Tsukki, he squeaks. I'm sorry?”

I am raging. This should not even matter, we're at practice, and practice is the place we can afford ourselves to make mistakes, but I am raging inside and out.

“It's not always your fault, Yamaguchi!” I burst.

As if it would make me feel better, I continue.

“Stop saying 'sorry' god dammit! It feels like you don't even mean it! And most of the time you don't even need to say 'sorry' so why are you always apologizing? Hu? Tsk.”

“Sorry, Tsukki...”

“That's exactly my point!”

At this point, I am almost squeaking too, and my eyes fill with tears, but Yamaguchi has nothing to do with all of this.

I run out of the hall to the bathroom again. This time I am the one who needs to apologize, I had no right to take it all on my best friend.


	4. Confessions in the Bathroom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yamaguchi confesses a forbidden crush. As for Tsukki, he feels like dying at first but he's going to try something in order to settle this situation once and for all.

 As soon as I am alone with my thoughts, I cry out loudly, mad. My glasses are stained with tears and my nose is dripping too. I hear a faint knock and shout to anyone behind the door to stay out, stay the fuck out of my sight. Yamaguchi insists and I let him in, before exploding in a gargle of tears and apologies, which he accepts, the sweet heart that he is. When I finally calm down a little, and wash my glasses on a cloth, I can see his worried expression.

“Sorry, I'm so sorry Yamaguchi. I don't know what got to me. I'm so...”

My eyes fill with salted water again, and I can't go on.

“It's... We're all very worried” my friend says. “The rest of the team wanted me to check in on you because... I have never seen you like that, Tsukki, what's happened out there?”

“You're not mad I yelled at you?”

“No, but I want to understand, and help, if I can.”

“I don't think you can help me.”

I had no desire to share my problem with him, because it was none of his business, but I am backed up against a wall. I have no idea how to get rid of this stupid love thing.

“… How do you unfall in love?” I say, mouth dry and teeth clenched.

I raise my head and glance at Yamaguchi. He seems half-shocked, half-relieved, and a bit blushy too.

“Well, I won't tell you I knew you were in love Tsukki!” he chuckles, “but why do you want to let go of those feelings?”

“It's never going to be reciprocal. I am unable to function. Basically it fucks me up and I don't like it. Help me Yamaguchi. How do I snap out of this?”

This was too much to bear, I grunt and hit the wall beside me.

“You're angry...”

“No shit. But more like... Frustrated. Irritated. Furious even. It's driving me mad.”

“You're going to be okay, just... I don't know, don't resist so much? Accept it and it will ease your anger? ...Tsukki?”

I turn around, so he cannot see my face filled with tears. How weak. I will never be strong enough to accept that Hinata was the center of my love interest, was my only ever love interest. I cry out loud, whining like a baby. Yamaguchi probably doesn't know what to do but I don't care, at all. I need to just cry and maybe my feeling will go away. Please, make them go away.

I suddenly feel a warm palm on my back, and Yamaguchi's head right above it, touching me gently. I go on crying, not because I want to, but because I cannot stop. My jersey is wet from tears rather than sweat by now, and yet I cry. I can feel Yamaguchi trying to hug me, but it doesn't even matter, I don't want him right now, I want Hinata. I want Hinata so bad, I feel he's the only one who can console me...

I hear sniffing behind me. Is Yamaguchi crying too? I feel like turning around to see if it isn't my own crying that resonates in the bathroom. I eventually stop and listen. My mind wasn't playing tricks on me, Yamaguchi is indeed clutching his hands on my shoulders, and sobbing on my back.

Upon hearing that I was calmer now, he pulls back and wipes his own tears away.

“I know how you feel, Tsukki...”

I still don't dare turning around. He inhales deeply and sighs.

“I wasn't able to forget about my crush. I've had these feelings bottled up inside me for almost three years. So I just accepted it and... It's killing me, but... At least I am happy, most of the time. Love's both a wonderful and awful feeling, eh?” he sighs and looks at me with puppy eyes, which puts a small grin on my face.

Sighing too, I look at my face in the mirror. Looks terrible. My eyes are puffy and red. Whatever.

 

We go back to the court, and although everyone seems normal, I still feel their curious gaze behind my back. Do they pity me? I don't know and I don't care.

 

After practice, I come home faster than ever, only wanting my bed and a cup of tea with lots of sugar in it. Maybe some chocolate ice cream. Wait, tsk, who am I, a sad teenage girl? … Well two of those three things are in fact true... Perhaps ice cream won't hurt.

I lay down on my bed, or let myself fall into it. My feet are cold, and my head hurts. Am I actually sick this time? I cried a lot earlier, I am probably dehydrated.

Going downstairs. Making tea. Every move is a pain. My body aches all over. Drinking said tea. Not enough sugar. Too hot, I burnt my tongue. Too sugary. I want to puke. I resist weakly. Going upstairs. To the toilet. Down on my knees and out it goes. Or so I want because nothing comes out of my mouth but drool. Out of my eyes, on the contrary, comes out a stream of tears. I take my tear-stained glasses off, sit on the cold bathroom floor, hugging the porcelain receptacle, my head resting on the seat. How pathetic.

“Please, let me be well again” I plead “from now on I'll be good, I'll even be good to Hinata, I promise, I will be better to everyone, I'll even try and make friend with the King... Just let me be in peace...”

I stay in that position during a long time, mumbling and swearing. I don't know how long, though. My mind is blank, and my eyes hurt, will I ever recover from this? I crawl towards the bathroom door and use the handle to help me up on my feet. They drag me into my bedroom, where I sit again on the floor, backed up against the wall.

I need to get better. Yamaguchi isn't the one to turn to this time, this afternoon's incident has probably reminded him of unhappy events, I can't put too much of this burden up my friend's shoulders. When I get over my crush on Hinata, I need to help him out with his feelings too, poor thing. I never even bothered to ask him, I feel like such a shitty friend. A shitty person in general, actually.

That's why I need to become a better man. If I want this crush to fade away, I need to be... Friendly.

 

***

 

The next morning, I try my best and greet everyone as one should do. I shake hands, say hello and ask about how they slept. I get weird looks, but after my little scene yesterday, this was foreseeable. Hinata is the last to show up, and even though shaking the King's hand was way more difficult than ever thought for me, the idea of shaking his is really impossible for my mind to bear. I still manage to move forward. Just like I told myself yesterday: I must improve myself so I won't need that stupid Hinata to fulfil my dreams. I arrive in front of him while he's lacing his sneakers.

A shaking hand rises from behind my back, and I stand motionless, expecting. He doesn't raise his head. Has he seen me?

“Oi, are you so small you don't even notice my hand?” I snark.

What am I doing, this is defeating the purpose of being nice. This is the exact opposite of what I am supposed to do, and Hinata will hate me for commenting on his shortness one more time. Stop.

But he looks up, grinning. What?

“It's not my fault you are such a giant, Tsukishima! Sorry, I didn't know you were so keen on shaking hands in the morning, that's new!”

I frown and look down at my side: he noticed. My heart bounces and my cheeks blush. That feeling is exhilirating, my hand is shaking even more with excitement.

All of a sudden, I sense a hand in my own. His hand. His hand in my own. Oh, Lord no, it's probably covered in sweat, I should have washed it before going to greet Hinata!

“New is good!” Hinata adds, cheerfully as always.

“Good then” I squeak, shyly looking at his torso.

“Man, now that you're next to me, and we're both standing... You really are a giant.”

He lays his hand flat on his head and measures himself in comparison with me. His little hand reaches just at the basis of my neck, a full head more than him in height! We both pull back, with frustation for him, and overwhelming sensations for me. He's touched me twice, in less than a minute's time... I am never going to recover from this. Probably.

He pouts, what a dork, puffs his cheeks and chest, rises on his tippy toes and lays a competitive glare on me.

“But I can jump higher, you'll see!”

I chuckle. Yes, you can jump. You could fly even without wings if you wanted to.


	5. If Compliments Could Kill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata is over enthusiastic about Tsukki's spike, and Mr I-don't-have-a-heart is actually really cute and proud.

 During the whole time we practice, I am somewhere else. Buried in my thoughts, inside a coffin made of Hinata's hands. Everyone notices that I am today much clumsier than ever before. I try and contain my frustration behind an expressionless face.

“Everone has off-days” I explain, shrugging.

“Well put some effort in it! We're going to Tokyo soon, I don't want to have to make you sit on the bench during those training matches” Coach Ukai replies immediately.

I squint. Tsk. This is all Hinata's fault, I want to mutter, but I refrain myself hastily. Our Coach is right, I don't want to sit on the bench. I want to play, I want to attack and make the most of those training matches. Most of all I want Hinata to notice how good I am with the team.

Sugawara tosses to me and I counter the block by absorbing the force of the ball on the bottom of my palm so it rebounds and gets over them, before touching the floor just behind Hinata and Kageyama.

“That's what I'm talking about Tsukishima!”

The King of the Court throws blazing eyes at me, furious, and Hinata, on the contrary, has stars in his eyes.

“Awesome...” he mutters to himself. “I had forgotten about Tsukishima's special attack! We need to give it a name because it's so cool and efficient! Like Nishinoya-sempai' Rolling Thunder!”

He won't. Oh no, he won't give a name to my attack. I frown, disgusted by the idea. Why does he need to be this lame?

“Surprise Anti-Block Attack!”

That. Is. The. Lamest. Attack. Name. Ever. If my attack _has_ to have a name, please let it not be this one. I cannot help but face-palming myself, tsk-ing loudly, glaring at my puppy-eyed teammate.

Fortunately, Tanaka interferes, defending my honor.

“Hinata, you aren't that good with names, are you? Hm... What about: Bouncing Leaf?”

Yamaguchi's starting to chuckle, he knows how annoying I find those brats. Especially when they are behaving so childishly. We're not in a fighting manga, for God's sake, what use of attack or receive names would we have, anyway?

“No, that's not classy enough Tanaka” interjects Nishinoya. “I think 'Panther's Paw' would suit more.”

“Aren't panthers' fur supposed to be black?” an orange fluffball asks, “but Tsukishima's blond, so it should be called 'the Blond Panther's Paw'!”

Some of the other team members laugh a little, most of them let a grin flash on their face, but I am boiling. With what, I have no idea. But I am feeling hot in my face, boiling hot. That is silly, my reasonnable self whines. But also so cool, my Hinata-loving self replies. He actually knows my hair colour, took it into account. So thoughtful. I want to hit the little guy.

“Whatever.” I hiss before turning around.

Yamaguchi is still trying to hold in his laugh, biting his lips. His cheeks are so red, probably from not being able to breathe.

We continue our game, and later on, once again, Sugawara tosses to me. Without thinking about it twice, I let the ball bounce on my hand again. Like the first time, it flies up the block and lands perfectly behind their feet.

I resist the urge, but it comes out of my mouth anyways as I push my glasses higher on my nose:

“Blond Panther's Paw.”

It was barely a murmur, but Hinata, even on the other side of the court, caught it. The little jerk opens his eyes and mouth wide, clenches his fists and yells how awesome I look saying that after my thing. Once more, I can see stars bubbling up in his brown orbs as he quivers in excitement. I cannot stand his flatteries, and look in the distance, avoiding his admirative gaze.

“Tsukishima _so cool_!” he blurts out again.

“Tsk.”

He must never know that my heart is weak to his words right now, he must not see my face becoming redder than Santa's clothes. Yes, Christmas has come early for me this year, in the form of Hinata's flattering words.

 

The rest of the day is blurry. I have absolutely no clue of what happened after practice. My mind's all occupied by one thought. Hinata's face glowing, lit up by my usual hit. I catch myself smiling every so often, and so does Yamaguchi. But since I am not able to hold a correct conversation with him or anyone else today, he doesn't insist on knowing the reason for that strange behavior. I have begun to have doubts that he has now guessed it, but even if he asks, I can always 'hm' at his question and turn around to look at anything else to avoid answering.

 

***

 

During the evening meal, at home, I play around with my food. Small bite by small bite, I struggle to eat half my rice portion, and maybe four pieces of meat. Don't even get me started on vegetables. My mom notices and asks about how my day went. Perfectly, I want to say, but instead, I pack my plates and bowls to put them in the sink.

“I'm not hungry tonight.”

I don't wait for a response and flee in my bedroom, where I think about my day. How did it go, exactly? I've greeted my team correctly, then Hinata touched my hand and my neck, and then congratulated me on my spike. Then I thought about that over and over. Tsk. Mission failed: my crush on Hinata is getting more and more recognition. My own mind tricked me, I am my own enemy. I need a proper solution, because those butterflies aren't going anywhere.

 

Closing my eyes, I start thinking. Soon my mind drifts, though, swiftly reenacting today's events.

 

_My small giant is all eyes on me, cheering me on, while I abruptly throw the ball up the opponent's block._

“ _You're amazing, Tsukki! Again! You're the best and I love you!”_

“ _Thank you my little man, your words make my heart bounce in my chest...”_

“ _You should give a name to that spike, Tsukki-chan, how about 'Blond Panther's Paw', because of your platinum hair?”_

“ _I love it, and I am going to think of you everytime I use that spike. My love...”_

_Hinata and I reach out for the other, and our hands meet halfway, before I pull him towards me, making him nuzzle in my chest. I feel his hands holding tight on my back, and I pull him closer too. My head is attracted down on his, and I can smell the shampoo perfume he uses, which I adore. He then looks up at me, stands on his toes to reach my face and lays a chaste kiss on my lips..._

 

I open my eyes, blushing heavily, and take the cushion on my right, put it on my face to muffle my little squeak.

“God damnit Hinataaaaa...” I moan, still hushed by the pillow.

How jaded I am already with that boy and his compliments. But even so, right now, I cannot deny the smile hidden in the solitude of my room. I put the cushion back on my bed, sigh, and turn on the side. Instead I cradle my gigantic stuffed dinosaur in my arms and kiss its fluffy head, hugging it and grinning widely.

“Hinata...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always see writers discuss about Tsukki's passion for Dinosaurs, I don't know if it's canon, but I am absolutely ravished by the idea, so... He has stuffed dinos around his room. :3 SO CUTE RIGHT


	6. Asking for advice?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream fluff!!!! :D (hopefully soon enough real fluff too)
> 
> And Tsukki is asking for advice to Tanaka and Nishinoya! But still he has no clue, so he's looking for Yamaguchi's point of view, and... OMFG HE IS SO CLUELESS. ABOUT TO BREAK A HEART AND DOESn't EVEN KNOW IT (that's for the next chapter tho and i'm not excited to write that part)

_I hear Hinata calling me from the door of our appartement. He gets inside, dripping all over the carpet, shopping bags in his hands. I take them away, and help him out of his wet clothes. His hair is soaking wet and flat, drops of rain rolling on his cheeks and chin. He is shivering. Quick, a towel._

“ _Why didn't you bring an umbrella like I told you?”_

“ _I didn't think it would be pouring like that!” he replies, still shaking but with a large grin._

“ _Well next time, I'll insist more. I wouldn't want you to be sick. Come quick” I add, “I put some logs in the fireplace and it's so warm. I'll bring you some more blankets too.”_

_I had never thought of myself as a protective lover like this, but Hinata is a fragile kitten, and I have to attend to his needs. He cannot cook, cannot repair holes in his clothes, cannot clean up after himself. Of course I don't want to be his mother, but I do things like that for him out of love. Sometimes, he'll try and help me. And eventhough he cannot cut the carrots in perfect shape, it still tastes amazing._

_I come back to find him gazing into the fireplace, hands up in front of him to help them warm up. His hair is glowing, probably because of the light coming out of the fire. His hair is fire, now I can really see what he means sometimes. He only says that because his hair is orange and untamable, but he hasn't seen it like I do right at the moment. I make my way towards him, putting a big blanket on his shoulders. He looks at me, gestures about me sitting next to him under the blanket too._

_I smile softly and cuddle him like he wants me too. His face is cold, but soon enough he'll be burning, if we stay in front of the fire like that.I wrap my arms around his frail body and lay down some kisses on his cheek._

_He turns to me and mouthes a 'thank you for the blanket' before smiling widely. His eyes penetrate mine, the iris reflecting the flames. My my, that is spectaculous._

“ _Your eyes, Tsukki, they're beautiful near the fire like that...” he says softly._

“ _I was just thinking about that too.”_

“ _That your eyes are beautiful?” he teases._

“ _No, dummy!” I chuckle, “Yours. They're burning. It's mesmerizing.”_

_We kiss gently, looking at each other, but it's neither awkward nor creepy. It feels right. When the kiss deepens a little, he closes his lids halfway, enjoying the sensations. I do the same, and search for his hand to hold. Then I feel both his hands on my back, gripping my hoodie, so I reach for his head instead and cup it into my long fingers. We pull back to breathe and look at each other again, but all I can see is a black ceiling._

 

I close my eyes again, in need of more. More of that tremendous dream, please, but it's too late and I resolve to get up, get dressed and skip breakfast. On the road to school, I think of the rest of my dream. I imagine all sorts of scenarios that would end up in me kissing Hinata, or the contrary. When I arrive at Yamaguchi and I's usual spot, he's already waiting for me, and looks at me with a surprised face:

“You're smiling?”

Was I? Maybe, probably, even, I have never felt this happy. He was right: having a crush to think about is wonderful.

“Yeah, so?” I reply.

“No, it's new, that's all! And it makes me happy to see you smile, Tsukki!”

He looks noticeably lighter than usual when we begin our morning walk. He doesn't lie, he is happy that I'm happy, he's shining, even. What a wonderful friend I have! I am lucky to have him around.

We arrive at the sport's hall, and with a more cheerful tone than yesterday, I shake hands with everybody. They like my new attitude, because I have all but compliments in return. Tanaka jokes about my big smile, which is definitely not that big, and pats me forcefully on my back. It hurts, after all he's a spiker and has to be strong, but I get the friendly gesture. I even greet the King with nonchalance, as if we'd always done that this way. He grimaces when he shakes my hand, but I don't even care at all. I am looking forward to greet Hinata Shôyô, right next to him, already streching.

“Hinata”, I say with the most joyous tone I have in my bag of voice changes.

“Hi, Tsukishima! Ready for today?”

I nod, and hold out my hand, so ready for his.

“Yosh!” he screams, arms up and jumping, before running to the court.

I stare at my hand.

He didn't take my hand.

He ran towards the court without shaking my hand.

I feel stupid.

I feel empty.

And sad, so sad that he didn't shake my hand.

I turn around slowly, hand still up, look at Hinata that looks back at me. He notices, freezes in fright, and when he can finally move again a few seconds afterwards, runs back to me and apologizes.

“Oh Tsukki, I'm sorry, once again I missed your hand! I guess I'm still not used to you doing that!”

“It's alright.”

It wasn't. But at least now he's shaking it, with both his hands and I feel my cheeks getting hotter.

“You had those strange eyes when I noticed, I couldn't decide if they were puppy eyes or really angry eyes...” he says cautiously.

Puppy eyes? Was I really that sad?

“Tsk.”

He gets back on the court and I start warming up. My thoughts are running wild, first of all, he called me 'Tsukki' which means he likes me, right? Then even though he didn't shake the first time, he came back and took my hand in _both_ his to make up for it, which means he cares, right? Oh god, I am so happy, my mouth is hurting. How long have I been smiling?

And those hands on my skin, they are soft and warm, and everything I look for, hand-wise. I want them on my skin again, on my face and my back and my chest and I want those fingers running on my arms and most of all I want them laced with mine.

After practice, Yamaguchi flees out of the changing room without saying a word. It is weird, but I'll talk to him later, anyway. Nishinoya and Tanaka are talking about Shimizu-sempai, and how they are going to ask her out if she ever notices them.

All of a sudden, it strucks me: if I want Hinata to be mine, I need dating advice. Of course, I am aware that all those romance movies I saw weren't ewactly true even if not entirely false, so I need a grounding lesson.

“Tanaka, Noshinoya” I bark. _Good start, Tsukishima_ , I snark at myself, _be more polite_. I start again, in a secretive way: “Can I ask you for advice?”

As soon as they understand that I, their kouhai, wants their advice, they forget about my barking and puff their chests in an almost silly manner.

“What is it that you want to know, Tsukishima?” asks Nishinoya.

“You can call us your sempai, we'll always be there to give you advice if you need some!” Tanaka adds.

I retract a bit, not knowing for certain if that was a good idea after all. But we're here, and all the others have vanished, so why not.

“I need help with... Dating advice” I sigh hesitantly.

They look at me, surprised, look at each other with a decided grin, and turn back to me. Must I be scared?

“If you're crushing on Kiyoko- sempai, good choice, she's Beauty incarnated, but you have to know that she's taken!” Tanaka blurts out.

“Taken? For all I know, she's been avoiding you two and all other males.”

Nishinoya explains to me:

“She's not taken _yet_ , but we'll definitely get to her heart.”

“I don't want Shimizu-sempai anyway. It's someone else. So how do you flirt?”

“Ha, HA! I knew it wasn't usual of you to smile! You're in love... And you want more!”

“Tell us who it is!”

“No. Just give me basic advice. I'll figure out the rest.”

“PLEASE” they both scream in harmony, “WE'LL HELP YOU IF YOU TELL US!”

I sigh heavily, for drama and also out of impatience.

“I guess I'll leave you then. Thanks for nothing.”

“No wait, we're just teasing” Nishinoya says quickly.

“We'll give you something to work with! For instance, girls like it when you ask how their day went. So always ask how good it was!”

“And _listen to her answer!”_

“ YES. Otherwise it defeats the purpose.”

“They also love it when you say you love them,”

“That you think they're beautiful,”

“And gifts. They love gifts. Small ones, big ones, _meaningful ones_.”

I don't care about girls, I care about Hinata! But how do I tell that without them realizing I am gay for our shorty teammate? I decide it is best to thank them and look for an answer on my own.

“That advice is really helpful, I finally say. Thank you. Tanaka-sempai, Nishinoya-sempai.”

I bow and grin a bit at my own private joke. They look ridiculous when someone calls them sempai. It was worth it, just for their faces puffed and pink in pride.

 

All of it isn't to waste. I can always ask Hinata about his day, and that'll get us started on a conversation. Maybe I will even learn about his interests other that the Small Giant and his likes and dislikes, so I could give him a gift or something.

I'll leave the part where I tell him he's the most adorable fluffball on Earth for another time, though. It's just... Too much.

 

Then I get to thinking. What if I become another Tanaka or another Nishinoya? They look like idiots when Shimizu-sempai is around. What if I look like an idiot with Hinata around? I probably don't look like them anyway, it's just not in my nature. And yet, morning greetings have _never_ been in my nature, but I have been at it for two days, now. I wonder if I will make it usual. It is nice to feel Hinata's hand, when he eventually shakes, but I don't like the other's. They're moist, big, small, strong and... I will stop that weird behavior before it becomes a habit of mine. Nevermind what they all thought of it, I'll stop shaking hands because it's gross. Nobody should shake hands, it is unhealthy. For the sake of being nicer than before, though, I will try and remain friendly. It hasn't made my crush fade away like I thought it would – why was I thinking that in the first place, it isn't even logical – but Hinata likes me better this way.

And Hinata has become my priority, of course. I need a plan of action to befriend him and get us closer. My main problem is that I have never known how to become friends with people. Yamaguchi is the only one that stuck with me, and now that I think of it, I have no idea why. I have too many defaults for someone to like me as a friend. And that is for the better: I don't like people. I don't even like my own family. I can stand Yamaguchi because he knows me, too well sometimes, and he knows how I like things done. He adjusts himself to fit in my lifestyle. I like that Yamaguchi does that, yet I never told him. I should, probably, because I really am thankful for his adjustments around me, without making me feel like I owe him. Which makes me wonder... Why is he so submissive like that? Why is hanging around with a person like me important to him? Has he found qualities in me? Tsk. I wish I knew. I guess I will never know, though. That would be bizarre if I asked him. Narcissistic. Egocentric. I am kind of curious, now.

 

**Tsukki ^.^ :** _Yamaguchi, why are you my friend?_

That needs explanation, I notice, but before I can send another message to clarify, he has already responded.

**Yamaguchi:** _Because I like your company, Tsukki! n_n Why this sudden question?_

**Tsukki ^.^ :** _Thank you. I like yours too. You're the only person I can stand. You fit. But what do you like in me? I'm not friend material._

**Yamaguchi:** _Are you introspecting because of that person you love? You know Tsukki, I, for instance, like you just as you are, so that lucky girl will too. \uwu/_

Girl. Meh, should I let him figure out or..? He's what one would call a “best friend”, so he is probably the only person I could ever tell.

**Tsukki ^.^ :** _I don't really care how you'll react to that, but it's not a girl._

**Yamaguchi:** _… You're in love with a guy..?_

**Tsukki ^.^ :** _No, a bird._

That wasn't entirely false, after all, he's a Karasuno Crow, like all of us. Yamaguchi doesn't answer right away, though, and I hope he didn't mind the sarcasm. I can't be serious, can I? It's a reflex. I start typing apology and clarification, but once again, he replies just as I was about to hit send.

**Yamaguchi:** _I would have never expected that of you, but I'm happy you told me! It means so much..._

**Yamaguchi:** _Knowing you, now that you've let out that big secret ^o^ I'm not gonna know the guy's name for at least another couple of weeks, right? I gotta admit I'm CURIOUS._

You are totally right, my friend. Plus we've been sending texts for too long, and I'm off to bed.

**Tsukki ^.^ :** _Good night, Yamaguchi._

**Yamaguchi:** _Oh, good night, Tsukki!!! Sleep well, nice dreams..._

Hm. Nice dreams... Hopefully.


	7. (You're a) Heart-breaker, Dream-maker, Love-taker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> oh my god i'm so so so sorryyyy it's saaaaad
> 
> Yamaguchi has cried all night long because he's guessed tsukki's love for Hinata. He'd had doubts because of all the things that happened during practice, but the last night texts confirmed everything...  
> The next morning they meet and Yama says they can't hang out anymore, it's too painful...  
> Then something really CONFUSING HAPPENS

I didn't dream tonight. Or at least, I don't remember it. As I enjoy the warmth of a shower, though, I think about Hinata, and how on earth I am going to talk to him so that he will like me and eventually accept a date. My mind wanders and I imagine his hands over my face and my chest, and also the taste of his lips under the running water. I picture myself touching him all over his naked body in the shower with me, and soon I rise. Protected by the sound of the clapping water, I touch myself and come rapidly. But then I feel bad and dirty, so I wash, rinse, and get out.

After taking a few more minutes than usual trying to fix my hair and shaving myself, I go downstairs, prepare my things and kiss my mom good day. She looks at me with wide open eyes and smiles before wishing me a happy friday. She insists on preparing me a larger bento than usual, with sweets and all.

“It's fine. I'm not that hungry these days. Too happy for food.” I grin, my teeth even show a little, which makes my mom light up.

“I haven't seen you like that in year, Kei! It makes my day! But eat well, sweetheart, okay?”

“Will do. Bye.”

I tilt my head to the side, smile and feel my heartbeat increase. Being happy like that is a really nice feeling, and apparently, everyone around me seems to find that agreeable too. I slip in my sneakers and leave my mom at the door, hands clasped together and smiling beyond her cheeks. When I close the door behind me, I immediately hear her scream and call my father.

“Kyô! Kyô-chan!! I think Kei's in love! I'm sure of it! I'm so PROUD of our son! AAAAH!”

Tsk. She's so emotional. I sigh, but she's right, so I cannot help a small grin from forming on my lips.

Yamaguchi arrives a bit late, eyes slightly red.

“Sorry Tsukki! I overslept this morning...”

If I didn't know him like I do, I'd say he was telling the truth, but something is bothering me. He kind of has a fake smile on. I frown, deciding wether I demand an explanation. He's looking like he's about to go, and I notice... sadness?

“Stop.”

“Let's just go, Tsukki... I... We're gonna be late!”

He looks at me with that fake smile again.

“Don't play me. You look terrible. What's wrong? Tell me. I'm your best friend.”

“Tsukki!”

His eyes begin to water, and the smile fades. That's more like it. I didn't think this through, though, and now, I don't know what to do. But I apparently don't need to do anything because Yamaguchi has already begun talking about it, or at least, he tries:

“I... Sorry... But... No... I don't know where to start, what to tell, how to do this!” he finally lets out.

I want to say something, but he continues rambling about something I can't even begin to understand.

“This week's been weird, you've been so weird!” he eventually ends up saying. I stop him.

“I've been weird?”

“... Yes, you've fallen for someone else. And... And... I... I only have you...”

“What are you saying, Yamaguchi? You've got lots of other friends beside me?! You talk to everyone in our class.”

He looks up at me and I can see tears streaming down his face. I am struck with confusion. Why's he talking about Hinata? Someone _else_?

 

Then I understand. I relax and feel my cheeks blushing a little.

 

“Yamaguchi... Do you... Like me?” I say in a hushed tone.

He doesn't reply anything but keeps looking at me.

“And you've guessed my feelings for… Hinata?”

His mouths twists in a horrible grimace, and he nods, looking down at his shoes. I put my hands around his shoulders and squeeze a bit. I bite my lips, confused and afraid. How had I never noticed?

“I'm sorry, Yamaguchi... So sorry. Truly. I can't return your feelings.” he nods again and I add “And I am sorry to have asked you for advice and made you feel like that. You're still my best friend, though, if you still want that from me.”

He raises his head, eyes firmly locked on mine.

“I thought that I would be truly happy for you when you'd fall in love with someone else, but it turns out I cannot stand it. I have tried, but I can't help it: I'm jealous and I hate it.”

He parts with my hands and turns away to start walking towards school. Without even looking behind, he says:

“I will need some time... To heal. Alone.”

He starts off without me, and I stay behind, baffled by what's just happened. I can quite get why he wouldn't want me near, but I am still a bit hurt, I know I will miss his company...

I put on my headphones and turn the music on, beginning to walk behind him and looking at his back. I am not the insensitive jerk that I let on to be, I hurt for my best friend, all the way to school. Now that I love someone, I can quite understand his pain. I try and recollect every piece of memory I can think of when Yamaguchi could have been telling me what he felt, and now that the missing piece is in place, I see the whole puzzle before me. I was so blind, and because of my inattention I've lost my only friend.

 

***

 

We arrive silently at the gym, and I can't help but notice Yamaguchi's eyes: they're puffy and redder than the morning sun on our flag.

Our captain notices too, and orders him to go and get some rest. He resists feebly, then caves in, and goes to lie back in the changing room.

“Hi, Tsukishima!” Hinata says, this time showing his hand and almost putting it in my face, “Is Yamaguchi okay?”

“My hand's right there. And no, he's not. And I can't even do anything to help him.” I sigh.

“Yeah, you look kinda worried, right? Why can't you do anything? Aren't you and him like... Bestfriends?”

“We are... Well we... _were_ (it hurts). He doesn't want to talk to me anymore. But I'm very worried.”

“WHAT?” He jumps back, then puts on a thinking face. “If he doesn't want to talk to you, will he talk to someone else? I will! I will help Yamaguchi!”

My heart flinches. He's so kind, but Hinata is probably the last person that Yamaguchi wants to see! What if they get into a fight over me? That would probably be hot, but I don't want neither of them to hurt the other! The redhead, though, has already run towards the changing room, and is about to open the door, when a strangled “No!...” comes out of my throat. Too late...

But to my surprise, Yamaguchi lets him in.

 

We begin playing without them, even though Kageyama is upset that Hinata is missing everything. I get paired with him to work on our combinaisons, and I try hard to concentrate, but as soon as I have a time out, I can't help but glancing at the still closed door. What are they talking about? They've been in there for 50 minutes straight, and practice is almost over! It's getting annoying, but I have to stay focused on the court. I can't hear a sound coming out of it, so I guess they aren't fighting. We would hear Hinata yell and scream if they were to get in a fight. Unless Yamaguchi has found a cloth to smother him? What? No. He would never do that. After all, he's the sort of guy that avoids fights and conflicts at all costs.

Yamaguchi and Hinata are probably just... Talking. I shiver.

 

The final whistle is heard, practice is over. We clean up, get everything back in order and all of us proceed to the changing room.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> poor Yams, my sweet sweet love! One of my fave characters, but I had to hurt him for the sake of the main story line... Trust me I'm cry
> 
> I hope I won't break another heart (yours) like I broke yams' (and mine)


	8. All by myself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata is acting strange. I mean more than he already does. Tsk.

As soon as Sugawara opens the door, we hear laughter coming out of the two second years that happened to stay in the room the whole time. Hinata is sitting upside down, back on the floor and legs up the wall. Yamaguchi is smiling again, and that sight is a total relief. I would have never thought that he would get along that well with Hinata after our conversation this morning. I mean, he could have told Hinata so many nasty stuff about me, and that might be a reason for laugther, but it's not the likes of Yamaguchi. Moreover, despite whatever I could have said before this past week, Hinata is an amazing goofball and probably someone to turn to if you needed to cheer up.

They both look at us flooding into the changing room and Hinata springs up, blatantly shocked.

“Is practice over already? I missed ALL OF IT? NOOO!”

“Oh I'm sorry Hinata, I should have let you go sooner...” Yamaguchi says, worried and scratching the back of his head.

“No, it's okay. I can still practice during lunchtime, with Kageyama. And it was nice, we don't get to talk like that to each other very often!” He too scratches the back of his head, genuinely happy about that intimate conversation.

I try and catch the eyes of Yamaguchi, to ask him silently if everything between us is back in order, but he avoids my gaze. Hinata, on the other hand, has his fixated on me, and... Am I imagining this? He is blushing. His mouth makes a weird angle, too. He's been staring for too long, and I can't help my old self from blurting:

“What.”

“N... Nothing!” He is now definitely blushing, his face is not so far from matching his hair colour, and he seems jumpy, almost frightened...

I bury my face inside my locker to hide my blushing too. Will I ever improve my social skills in order to get closer with my crush? Or am I just plain dumb? Tsk. I better hurry and change to go to class before we can say anything else.

 

***

 

I put on my music and get my bento out for lunch. Yamaguchi is eating with the girls of our class, in the other corner of the room. He's not even looking at me. I bet he doesn't want to see me anymore, too bad we're in the same class. Eating alone isn't bothering me, though, it's quiet, and I am in my bubble. I finish quickly then start my homework, that way I won't have to study for anything tonight, I'll have the night to myself.

 

***

 

I have now had an awful lot of time for myself, because Yamaguchi is still not talking to me. It's been three weeks and counting. I'm bored, alone with my thoughts, and no-one ever comes to talk to me. I've tried going outside, I've downloaded twice the songs I usually download so my device is full of music to let me escape. I've even tried sending texts to Yamaguchi but he won't answer.

The more alone I am, the more I imagine. I do my homework at school because I have much more time on my hands there, and I doodle at home. A lot. I have started a new anime and I really enjoy drawing the main character: he's quite small, eats a freaking lot, always has energy and yells way too much. It's such a cliché. I also like his partner in crime, quiet, slim and sarcastic. I've also looked for fanart to inspire myself, and yes: they're in a ship that sails itself.

Speaking of relationship, I am nowhere with my flirting plan. I am hopeless, I'd say. I succed in lots of things, but I am sure flirting isn't one of them. Hinata is avoiding me, always hiding behind corners to take sneak peeks when he thinks I can't see him in the school hallways. And during practice, he avoids touching me as much as he can, and when he does, he jumps or back away real quick, as if he'd been electrocuted. I am somehow sure that I've done nothing wrong, but Hinata has always been the nervous kind. It bothers me a little bit, though, maybe more than I would like to admit it.

He's always on my mind, of course, and most of my nights I spend them looking at the ceiling and imagining a conversation about his strange behavior. That bizarre redhead has always been strange, but it seems that he's being weirder than usual. If I had someone to talk to about it, I would ask their opinion, but of course, I haven't bonded with anyone. They are so not interesting, and I couldn't care less about my classmates' opinion anyway.

I suddenly feel an intrusive gaze on my back. I turn around and everyone in the class is eating joyfully, chatting about this or that, but at the door, I see somebody escaping from my sight. I get up, weirded out, and go check on this mysterious figure. I look both sides out of the classroom and see a bunch of orange hair running from me. This guy again? I need to confront him, he's driving me mad (both ways).

“HINATA.” I call. He freezes and turns around, looking innocent and waving frenetically at me. That is... cute and stupid. I resist the urge to facepalm myself and call him back.

“Hinata, come here.” Who am I, General Tsukishima? I need to work on my tone...

He looks paralyzed and ready to die, so I try my best and put on a smile.

“Good to see you. Why were you running in the hallways?”

“I was... I wasn't!” he manages, tensed.

“Then were you the one that was looking through our door?”

“Why... Would... I...” he was blushing heavily, then let out a nervous laughter.

“I... don't know if it was you, I just felt... someone's look on me. It made me feel uncomfortable, and I went to see, and you were running away. I thought... It could have been you.”

I looked at my shoes, feeling a bit dizzy. Oh my god am I tall. I dare not look at him, feeling myself blushing hard too. This would be the perfect time for a talk, like I rehearsed in my head.

“Hinata, I can be imagining things, but lately you've been following me, right?”

It sounded better inside. I should have never opened my mouth.

“Umm... I mean, I've noticed you were acting somewhat strange. Around me.”

Shot rectified. I hope.

“I... uh... I have?”

“Yes.”

“I have...” he scratches the back of his head in embarrassment. “Hahaha, I haven't noticed!”

“You look nervous.”

“I actually am..! I don't really know why though, but recently I've felt nervous... Around you.”

What. _I_ am the reason he's nervous? It should be the other way around! I'm the one who's developped a crush on him for two weeks!

“In fact, I think we should... Talk. Can you come outside with me for a minute? I don't want to do this here in the hallway.”

I have frozen. Alone time with Hinata, what I've been dreaming about for days. Should I get my hopes up? No, he probably want to turn me down. After all, I've been a jerk to him before, and I have no noticeable qualities, besides the fact that I am quite smart and he'd need a particular teacher. Hmm... Oh, he needs an answer. I snap back and go get my things.

 

Outside, we sit on a flight of stairs, facing away from the courtyard. He's nervously fidgetting his fingers, is mouth is closed in a seemingly painful frown. I don't know myself how to react nor what to say, so I stay silent, that's what I do best. I turn to slowly face his side, before he suddenly burst out my name.

“TSUKISHIMA!”

“I'm here, don't yell, please.”

“Hehe, I'm sorry I'm a nerveball. I... I just need to say something... To you.”

“I came here with you so I could listen.”

“Well, it's not... It's kinda hard.”

“Just... Begin with the beginning.” I tell him, encouragingly. What on earth is he trying to say! If you gonna reject me do it quick, don't play games!

 

“The beginning... Remember that day Yamaguchi and I talked a long time during practice?”

Of course, I remembered... That day had been a painful experience.

“Yeah?”

“Well... Yamaguchi told me... Secrets.”

“Please, don't leave me hanging!” I say ironically like a schoolgirl. Then “Sorry, go for it. Quick.”

“He told me that he was sad because he was in love with... well... You. But that you, on the other hand were in love with... Me...” he squeaked the last part of the sentence, looking straight into the distance to avoid my eyes.

So _that_ is what they talked about and _that_ is why he's been acting strange. I knew it. I blew it. I want to puke it. Not on his lap, please, not right now.

“If you think that...” I cannot end my sentence. I don't even know what I was going to say to protect myself.

He turns to me and I can see his eyes soften. His shoulders relax and his frowning mouth even turns into a joyous smile. I shiver, he looks beautiful. I can't help but stare at him, mouth agape.

“I thought you didn't like me, I felt relieved when he told me!” he continues.

I relax too, and want to clarify something:

“I did hate you at first. You are annoying. Yelling all the time.”

That probably didn't help my cause, why don't I think before opening up! Tsk. But he laughs.

“I was right then! But... What Yamaguchi said to me...”

“It's true.” I cut in. “But it came out of nowhere. And it won't leave, believe me I've tried getting rid of it.”

“Why would you? Haha! Love is wonderful.” he grins and opens wide eyes, in which I can feel the stars.

“No I hate it. It makes me feel weak and my cheeks hurt from smiling sometimes.”

“That's the funniest thing you've ever said!”

I grumble, but add:

“But is that all you've made me come here for?”

“No, that's correct... Tsukishima... Since Yamaguchi told me, I... have started to... feel different when you were around. I don't know how to explain it.”

“Different how?”

“I'm nervous. But not 'scared'-nervous, like... Nervous-nervous. And inside my chest it's like _bwoof_ and then you leave and I feel sad.”

“You don't make any sense when you usually say things like that, but... I think I get it. It's like your heart missed a beat?”

“Yes! That's it! And when I try to sleep, it's like you _pop_ and _bam_ and I dream about you too! It's... Weird!”

“I dream of you too. It's not weird, I dream about the team members, sometimes.”

“No but... We... _we kiss._ ”

 


	9. First cuddles, Reconciliation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukki and Hinataaa, sitting in a treee, K. I. S. S. I. N. G. (not kissing but GETTING CLOSER)  
> Yams finally reconciles with Tsukki :3

He dreams about me. He dreams about us, about us _kissing_...And _I_ dream about us kissing. We dream about each other, and in those dreams: we _kiss._ It takes my brain a few seconds to register.

“I kiss dreams too...” I say, then realise it doesn't make sense. I feel my cheeks go warmer, and squeak “I mean! Hum. I dream about us too. About us kissing, amongst other things.”

“Other things??! Like WHAT?” he's nervous again, but there's no reason to be.

“Cuddling. Watching movies. Holding hands.”

I don't notice right away, but my smile was not only internal but external too, which makes Hinata chuckle.

“Oh, okay, that seems great...”

He moves closer, and puts his fingers on my hand. What is happening, oh god, what do I do, what do I say? I cant help but look down and he retracts.

“I'm sorry! I should have asked you first! But I wanted to be the first one to make a move!”

“You're always about doing things first, huh?” I tease him. “It's not a match, it's not a game nor a challenge. Do what you want when you want.”

I take his fingers back and hold them shyly. I tremble. They are warm and soft and so little compared to mine. And apparently he noticed that last thing too because he puts his hand to match mine, and compares before uttering noises of disappointement. It makes me chuckle: what a dumbass. I rise my hand and take his face.

“You're so small” I say “that I can take your whole face in my hand.” I laugh at my own joke.

But instead of raging and jumping around like I thought he would do, he presses my hand harder on his face, cuddling it and laughing softly.

“Your hand is so big, Tsukishima, but so sooooft...”

I wasn't expecting that. I blush as hard as my body can handle it, take my hand back and put it on my lap. I hear him laugh heartily and hit his thighs. When he calms down a bit, though, he says:

“Can I hold it again? Please?”

“Only if I can... take you in my arms.”

I have imagined us tangled like that every minute of everyday for the last two weeks, and I cannot hold myself back. But when I go to take him, it feels...

“Are you cold? You're shuddering like mad.” he asks.

“No?”

I hadn't even noticed that I was trembling that much. I must have looked stupid. Tsk.

“It's still... very nice.”

Wonderful. Tremenduous. Outstanding. Marvelous. Stunning. Incredible. And yet he chooses 'very nice'... So … Hinata.

“Yes, it feels kinda great.” I don't want to scare him with my grand words.

We were barely beginning to accustom to each other's touch when the bell rang, forcing our parting. As neither of us knew what to do, we shook hands and left for our respective class, both of us red in the face like we'd stayed too much under the afternoon sun.

I couldn't think of anything else during the whole day, my belly was filled with butterflies and fireworks and everything clicked. A teacher even called me out on my doodling, and told me to listen instead of gazing outside the window. But I couldn't stop thinking about him, about his warmth and his hands. I couldn't help myself: I was in _love!_

And most of all, I couldn't wait for another time we'd be alone together. This time, maybe I would have the guts to kiss him. Even on the cheeks, that would be a start. I will take him in my arms, cuddling him from behind to surprise him and lay a chast kiss on his left cheek... Or maybe I will pull him towards me, his face against my chest, and put my lips on his forehead... School is almost over and it's going to be time for practice.

Practice.

Volleyball.

Team.

Hinata.

What the hell do I do?!

 

***

 

When the final lesson is over, I think of rushing to Hinata's class before he can go anywhere, but that behavior would be suspicious. So I decide to let things go with the flow, as much as I apprehend them.

I arrive alone at the gym hall, and everyone's practically here already. Hinata notices me and waves, blushing lightly. He is actually so damn cute. An orange kitten in the shape of a man, and I am weak. I feel myself blushing too and wave back, smiling ever so slightly.

We begin our warm up, and Hinata looks brilliant, I am amazed at his capacities, because today he jumps higher than ever, and don't ever miss a receive, and it's not that he hasn't been improving lately, but he is beyond himself. I am so proud, actually, that when he manages to serve an ace at the practice match between ourselves, I let out an enthusiastic encouragement. Everyone looks at me in awe, but I shrug them off. I'm happy, and even if I'm not usually that talkative, I don't even care. I love that shorty, and I am proud of him becoming such a wonderful player!

Hinata changed me. I have been noticing some new feelings and behavior. I'm not as irritated all the time as I used to be, and I finally get along well with my family. I've even started to talk to other people in class, even if it's barely small talk. It's normal for others to notice those changes too, sooner or later. It makes my mom happy to see me open up and I guess everyone in the team will be too. We've grown, in a matter of a few months, into a kind of... family.

Everyone else cheered when he aced that serve, but he only looked at me, of that I'm sure. And he still throws glances at me when he prepares for a second serve, which he does well. That game is amazing, and I have never had so much fun while playing. Sometimes, when the teams turn, we face each other, but there isn't rage in his eyes anymore, like there used to: only joy. And when he jumps to block my attack and that I do my thing:

“Blond panther's paw...” I murmur, only for him to hear.

His face lights up only for me, and his eyes scream “Awesome, Tsukki!!!” but he doesn't say a word, because this is just between us, and who cares about the rest of the world. I don't. I want to pull him against me, net or not, and hold him tight, because he's become my world. Who could have known that a simple missing heartbeat two weeks ago would have led to that moment?

But time is still running, our team turns, and all I want to see is Hinata chuckling and looking at me with his hazelnut eyes.

Practice ends soon, and we chatter during cleaning up, Hinata and I. Out the corner of my eye, I spot Yamaguchi, who is taking small peeks at us, every so often. Before I get inside the changing room, he comes and tucks my shirt, inciting me to stay out and talk a few seconds.

“Hey...”

“Hello, Yamaguchi, it's nice. Interacting with you again.”

He chuckles, scratches the back of his head. I see hesitation in his eyes, but I wait for him to utter his thoughts.

“I... I've seen how you two, I mean with Hinata... And... I just wanted to tell you that... I want you to be happy.”

“You could fight for me. Don't you wanna do that?”

“No! I mean, yes, but... These past weeks, I've watched you, and you seem so happy, I don't want to get that away from you. Plus... Humm” his cheeks flush pinkish, “I kinda thought of someone else, this last week...”

“Hum, good! I feel better with us being friends. Who's it, though? Curiosity.”

“... Hehe hmm, well, have you noticed the new manager? Yachi-san, she is really cute, with her blond hair and those little stars she puts in it... I think I might have a small crush on her! But... It's still weird, with my feelings for you.”

“You're my best friend, I'm not going anywhere. But if you want a relationship, I can't give you that. Maybe Yachi can, though, so you should go for it.”

“You're still my best friend too, Tsukki!”

“Glad we sorted that out, I was getting bored without you. Come on let's change.”

“Wait! Tsukki... I saw you and Hinata... Earlier. Are you two... Dating?”

How would I know that? We held hands, sure, we kind of... confessed? But that doesn't mean anything, in terms of dating, actually going on _dates_. I decide it is best to say the truth, all of it, to regain my friend's trust.

“No. We've just grown... closer. It's on its way, I'd say. Looking good. Thank you, that is actually your doing, Yamaguchi.”

“What? What do you mean?” he looked confused. That was surely never his intent to play Cupid.

“You told him how I felt, and he started liking me. From what I understood. So thanks.”

I bow my head a little. He bows too, still in shock. What's on his mind? Disappointement? Fear? Sadness? I cannot tell. For once, his face is just neutral, but then it turns into a smile.

“That's the sign for me to let go of my crush over you. I will take your advice and try to get closer with Yachi-san. I think I really like her, you know?”

“I'm happy for you, Yamaguchi.”

I'm even more releived at his confession because I would have hated him to stop talking to me forever. What's good about having an almost relationship if you only have that relationship and no one else?

We get inside and change then the whole team goes out for meatbuns at the Coach's shop.

 


	10. Meatbuns Madness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata chokes on a meat bun. OF COURSE. All's well that ends well!  
> (+ fluffy dream :3)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took so long because I've had a crazy week+week end. But tomorrow I'm FREE so I'll try and write the eleventh chapter too. :)   
> I still don't know where I'm going with this fic but it's fun so THANK YOU for your comments and kudos and stuff!!! It makes me wanna write moooore :D

Hinata and I are walking alongside each other, our arms brushing once in a while. I would like to hold his hand, but he is actually too small for me to touch gently his hand, and take it. My face burns, and I see that Hinata's all red too, he's adorably shy. He spots my glance and gives me a look back, and then smiles widely, eyes closed. I suddenly feel his hand in mine, what a jerk, it should have been me who'd have made the first move now! But nevertheless, I squeeze it softly, because it is warm and cozy. We arrive at Sakanoshita and order our meatbuns.

Everyone gets one, but my stomach's all full already – with butterflies. I accept my treat, though, but secretly hand it in to Hinata after he's finished his in two bites.

“Eat more slowly, you'll choke.” I say to him, with a deep caring voice.

“I will, Tsukki! Thank you very much for your meatbun. Are you sure you're not hungry?”

I gesture that no, I am not, and he looks at me with stars in his eyes when he takes his first bite. I smile, the best way to win a man is through his stomach: first mission accomplished with gracious success. My plan is on the move, and the next step is:

“So Hinata, how was your day?”

What I hadn't planned, of course, is that my little firehaired mate was going to not care at all about my advice, and he'd taken a second bite so large that it couldn't fit in his mouth. Eventhough, he tries to answer my question.

“Mfy damf wapf vfewu gkoo, pfankf!”

I am struck with both exasperation and disgust. Fortunately, Yamaguchi comes to my rescue.

“Hinata, you shouldn't speak when eating!” he chuckles.

As soon as Yamaguchi's finished his sentence, Hinata turns red and tries to apologize, but instead of waiting for the food to come down his throat calmy... He seems to have a hiccup and freezes. I immediately understand - thanks to his frenetic gestures and his panicked face - that he is indeed choking, just as I had warned him. My mind panicks too, but my body knows the process, and I take my stance behind his back right away, put my fists into position on his chest and pull him up. But that idiot Hinata is too stressed and his throat is probably too tensed.

“RELAX HINATA PLEASE I'M HERE!”

I pull him up, fists in place, once more, and hear him cough the infamous meatbun. Thank god, he is breathing. My heart is pounding in my chest, and I feel him shake in my arms. I don't want to let go of his fragile body, so I squeeze him lightly, and feel his warm back against my torso. I want to lay my forehead on his hair, but the whole team is probably watching, and I would hate that they knew our little secret. After a whole twenty seconds, I feel hands on my own, pressing fingers that want to take mine. I'm paralysed, I don't know what to do, what to say, but I don't want to move at all. Because he couldn't take my fingers enlaced in his, Hinata presses his lips on my hands.

“You saved me...” he breathes hard.

“I had to” I love him, of course I had saved him. I knew the technique, thanks Mom and Dad for making me take Red Cross classes. I would have been terrified if I didn't. “I...”

He turns to me, tears filling his eyes.

“I thought I was going to die...”

“Then you shouldn't take such big mouthfuls, idiot.” Then I add in a hushed tone: “I was scared...”

“Tsukishima! Well done! Good job! You're amazing!” the team around us shouted in a babbel.

At that very instant, I notice how I barely breathed for the past thirty seconds. Hinata's eyes were still locked with mine, and their shouting woke me up from my transe.

After Coach Ukai tells us to hit the road and stop the screaming, the rest of the team leaves, but Hinata and I cannot move one bit. We detach our bodies slowly, but still hold hands, before finally moving forward, silently. At the second crossroad, where I need to turn left, he stops. His face is concentrated, and he's got this aura of power around him. I think he even looks like he's grown a few centimeters.

“Thank you again, Tsukishima. I owe you my life. I don't know what would have happened if you weren't there.”

“You wouldn't have choked. You wanted to answer my question, that is why you hiccupped and choked. When you think of it, I'm the reason you choked, so it's only fair if I save your life in return.”

“Yeah, but... Thank you.”

We stare at the ground for a few minutes. Our hands are still linked and I don't want to let go of his fingers. I caress his thumb, and feel him caress my forefinger. This is very pleasant. I look at the others, far ahead of us. This could be my chance, but before I can utter a word:

“Go out with me!” he says, almost defiantly.

“I was about to ask you that.”

“So is that a 'yes'?”

“Yes. Tomorrow at 7. Here.”

“I will be there!” he grins, eyes closed in happiness, before fleeing into the night.

He really likes taking first steps, and I feel injured in my self-esteem. Next time, I swear to myself, I will kiss him first. I'm usually not the kind of passionate person, but he is probably rubbing off on me. Tsk. If I go on like that, that'll take up too much energy. But he's worth it.

 

***

 

“ _What's it gonna be, then, Tsukki? What do you want to do?”_

“ _Let's go to the mall. Have an ice-cream or something. Summer-time stuff.”_

“ _Perfect! I just wanted that, actually!”_

“ _You always say that.”_

“ _Because I do always want just what you want, honey bunny! Haha!”_

_I chuckle at his stupid nickname, which I absolutely love but will never tell. I put my arms around his shoulders, and we walk towards the town center mall. There are a lot of people here, and everyone seems happy and in a good mood. I press my lips on his forehead in the line before we can order our ice-cream._

“ _Mmh” he chuckles, turning his face to look at me. I backslide my kiss, this time on his nose._

“ _Huhu” he giggles and pouts his lips, so I can kiss them too. I wait a few seconds, enjoying the view, and finally give in, appreciating the softness of them._

“ _What's it gonna be for you two lovebirds?” the ice-cream guy says._

“ _Well, I'd like strawberry, banana, chocolate and strack.. stracciatella, please. Oh and with a lot of coloured sprinkles and whipped cream too!” he grins at the thought of his gigantic bowl. He's going to freeze his brains, again. I smile at that, because brain-frozen Hinata is a joy to make fun of, I am a shitty boyfriend, but he knows I love him, so..._

“ _For me, just vanilla and raspberry.”_

“ _Coming right up. That'll be 1000 yens, please.”_

_I get the bill out of my wallet and pay, and we go sit at a table while waiting for our ice-creams. I cannot help but continue our little game again, and kiss his hands, then his shoulder, then his neck all the while he giggles like mad. He escapes my grip to get our order and comes back whining for a kiss before I can eat. I cup his chin in my hand, and approach sensually. I love those moments where he is calm, still, and waiting for me to reach his lips, so I lengthen it as much as I can, brushing against him._

“ _Can I have my ice-cream, now?” I ask with a playful tone._

_He doesn't respond but comes closer and lets our mouths embrace. I breathe in deep, feeling my chest tighten, fireworks going off._

“ _Now, you can!” he says, his cheeks pink._

“ _Thank you, my small baby crow...”_

_He laughs heartily and takes his first gigantic spoon of ice-cream. I'm in love with this brainfreezing idiot._

 


	11. Time is not running at all.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time ... is ... passing ... by ... very ... slowly.  
> Some good TsukkiYama friendship moments though, and a tiny bit of interaction between Hinata and Tsukki!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also VERY SORRY  
> I had a really hard time continuing the story, bit of a writer's block, but I'm back on track and hopefully I'll upload every week end like before.  
> This fic is quite amusing to write, though, and I hope you find it nice too!

The alarm is buzzing off, waking me up in the middle of a wonderful dream. I smile, reminiscing of it, but soon it fades away, like all dreams eventually do. I sit up on the side of my bed, sigh and when I bolster up the strength, go to the bathroom. If I look like a morning person, I am unfortunately not. I am usually not mentally awake until I get to school, after the cold breath of the morning wind has stung my skin enough. Today, though, I feel like I have had just the right amount of rest, even if you can imagine my trouble while trying to fall asleep. I kept thinking of Hinata and our date, how it would go, what we would do and all of that exciting stuff. My inner self always seemed to turn every scenario into a nightmare, so I finally stopped and closed my eyes to drift off to sleep.

But today is real. The realest it can be. I have to be prepared to every possible outcome, be it Hinata chokes again, or breaks a leg or... doesn't even show up.

I'll be really pissed off if he doesn't show up. After all, he's the one who asked me out! I look at my angry face in the bathroom mirror: it isn't scary at all, it even looks ridiculous to my standards, especially with those horrendous half-closed eyes. Good thing it frightens people anyway.

I take a quick shower, arrange my hair and leave without being content about it. I'm going to be late if I keep trying to put that little cowlick to rest with the remaining of my perfectly handled hair. Well, this means I need a haircut. It's growing too long and soon my platinum curls are going to show. No, thank you!

I get downstairs and kiss my mom hello.

“Who's in a good mood? I know I am!” she greets me.

“Why's that, Mom?”

“I am preparing my favorite dish tonight. There's nothing like treating yourself!”

“I see. Speaking of dinner” I say while taking a sip of tea “I'll be in a rush, so just put a plate for me in the fridge. I'm meeting someone after practice.”

“Oh? I hope I'll leave some for you, then! HAHAHA!” She loves laughing at her own jokes way too loudly. “But don't be out too late, be back at ten, okay? And don't catch a cold. Who are you meeting?”

“I'm late, Mom. Good day.”

I rush out of the door and jubile internally. So far, it's looking good.

 

Yamaguchi is waiting for me at our usual spot. It's good to be back to normal. I greet him, and we walk silently, headphones on. I suddenly feel a tug on my arm.

“Tsukki, you're singing!”

I blush very hard and frown in disapprobation. But you know what? I, too, am in a good mood. So I answer cheerfully:

“Was I? Hm...”

Yamaguchi's looking at me like I am the sun, marvelled. I smile at him, and start singing outloud. I can see that he laughs, so I sing even louder, and probably more out of tune. I don't even know how to sing but I don't care. The music stops and another song comes on, it's an English song of which I don't know the lyrics. I sing nonetheless, gibberish comes out of my mouth and Yamaguchi bursts into a frantic laughter. I smile wider, and keep going. Suddenly, singing is not enough, and my body joins in: first my head, bobbing from left to right and from right to left exaggeratingly, then my arms, which I throw to the front and back in rhythm. I see that Yamaguchi is tearing up a bit, and it incites me to go further. Hinata is definitely rubbing on me, I think, because I would have never ever had that kind of unreasonable behavior a month ago. And much like Hinata, I now jump, and try clapping my feet together. It doesn't work on the first try, so I keep at it, and succeed, and while doing that again and again, I flail my hands in a flight motion. I make myself look more like a flightless bird, and it is probably hilarious, because Yamaguchi has stopped walking and is holding his ribs.

“Tsu.. Ha! Tsu... Haha! You're... Ha! Ki... Killing meeeeeeeeeeehehehehehehehehahahaa!”

He has tears streaming down his cheeks, and the biggest smile.

“My... Cheeks! Haha! They HUUUURT! Tsukkiiiiiihihihihihi!”

I am slightly out of breath, for the first time in probably forever.

“Having a laugh, are we?” I tease him. And so he laughs even more.

“Come on, Yamaguchi, let's go now! You'll get yourself sick with laughter.” I pull him on the pavement, and hold his forceless arm forward.

“I... Hehe... I... I can't... Ha! I can't... STOOOOP! Huhuhu...”

When we finally arrive at Karasuno, Yamaguchi still has little outbursts of laughter once in a while. I pretend not knowing him when he tells the others that I'm the reason he can't hold his face still for more than a minute straight.

“So Tsukkishima is _funny_?” they whisper to each other.

“Apparently... I wonder what he said to get Yamaguchi in that state...”

“Yamaguchi kinda looks possessed!” Nishinoya notices.

“What, Yamaguchi is possessed??! Hiiii!” Asahi really needs some confidence.

I stopped listening at that point, and went to see what the coach wanted with Hinata and I. Probably just a middleblocker thing. I listen carefully, but feel even more carefully Hinata's warmth next to me. I can even smell the scent of his anti-perspirant, and it's a delight. Coach Ukai wants us to stop Ushijima's spike, we'll never be able to pull it off, he's a star player. I glance at Hinata, who, of course, looks like he's got the power to achieve that. He looks back at me, grins, and goes back to practicing, skipping on the way to the net. I can't help myself smiling ever so slightly, because he's just too adorable. And fearless. And careless. And he's going to fall from very high if he doesn't start caring a little bit more.

 

***

 

Classes go by very slowly. English class is boring, as always, because we have been doing exercises about the conditional tenses for the past week. Every English hour has been dedicated to learning and training our Conditional. If Hinata didn't show show up tonight, I would crash down. If I hadn't had a dream about Hinata, I would have never felt this way. If I hadn't known Hinata, I would have had another kind of dream, maybe I would have dreamt about Kiyoko-sempai. Had I never had this dream, I would have had a tranquil night at home eating my mom's fave. But if Hinata doesn't show up tonight, I will still be very disappointed. I guess I expect a lot from tonight.

During lunch time, Hinata shows up at our classroom door. Yamaguchi is the first one to spot him, and invites him over.

“Oi, Hinata! Are you eating with us today?”

“No, thank you Yamaguchi! I just wanted to talk to you, Tsukkishima.”

“Yes?” My heart is pounding in my chest, this is it, our relationship hasn't even begun and he's here to tell me it's not about to begin at all. How could I have ruined it? I didn't do anything wrong, not in my opinion anyway.

He leans over to whisper in my ear:

“Are you still okay for tonight?”

All the tension that build up from that first sentence just evaporates instantly.

“Sure.”

“Cool.” He turns halfway to the door, hesitates, and leans back.

“I can't wait!”

He gives me a thumbs up before rushing out the class.

Yamaguchi turns to me with curious eyes.

“So you two _are_ dating! Don't deny it, you're bright red already and you're _smiling_.”

“Not quite exactly _dating,_ but...”

“Yeah right! I'm genuinely happy for you, Tsukki, you know?” He tucks his head to the side, smiling widely.

“I know.” Then I add with a pinch of curiosity (and in order to turn the attention away from my love life) “What about you and Yachi-san?”

“Uuuh... I'm... too shy. She's so cute and everytime I want to tell her something, all I can do is scratch my head and laugh embarrassingly. I'm sure she thinks that I'm a loser or something...”

“You'll get to it.”

We finish our bento in silence and classes begin again. This time, it's Japanese class and since I've already read the text and learnt the new kanjis, I let my mind and my pen wander. I check the time every few minutes, look outside, and sometimes at the board in case I learn anything new. My doodles now take a whole page of twists and spirals and crows and cats and weird symbols. In between the drawings, very well hidden, I write Hinata's name and things he reminds me of.

Hinata is a baby crow.

Hinata is Sunshine.

Hinata looks like/ A dog taking its first walk/ In a crowded park.

Hinata is smol, so smol.

Hinata = hot chocolate on rainy day.

Hinata is a fire with legs.

Hinata is Fire.

Hinata's eyes are filled with stars.

I'm a piece of trash. Please let this hour end soon. Two more and then volleyball. Am I going to survive this long? School's usually interesting but today it is the only thing I don't want to attend. What do we have next? Maths. Finally something to keep my mind occupied.

The bell rings, finally, and our next sensei enters the classroom. It is as boring as expected, but at least my brains working a bit more. I chain up the exercises, one after the other, at the end of these interminable hours listen to the sensei list the homework, and last but not least the final bell rings my freedom.

I rush to the gym hall with Yamaguchi on my tracks.

“Oi! Yamaguchi's finished laughing?” Tanaka asks with a false sarcasm face.

“Sempai, you shouldn't have asked that, now Yamaguchi is remembering what happened this morning.”

And as soon as I finish my sentence, I hear Yamaguchi puff behind his hands, that fruitlessly try to hold in his oncoming laugh. Oh, I live for those situations. They're all so simple-minded and easy to trick, to my own delight. I grin and stare vaingloriously at a defeated Tanaka. I turn to see that Yamaguchi is already tearing up again. Now I am a bit vexed: was I really that funny? Tsk. The door opens in a bang and in the doorway appears Hinata, quickly followed up by Kageyama. The light of the setting sun makes his hair appear vibrant with glow. Hinata is Sunshine. He rejoices at the break point he's just earned himself against our grumpy teammate, and flies away to change clothes.

During the actual practice, I focus on my blocking and my spikes. I cannot always feint against a skilled team of opponents, even if I did fool Aoba Jousai before. Hinata, who is on the other team, is running and jumping everywhere on the court. He even covered a ball that was 3 meters away behind the court, when Narita fell on his butt while receiving. Hinata is Fire. It is actually tiring to watch him run and jump like an intuitive fool, so I recompose myself and finish the game. Of course, when the ball is about to be served, and when we face each other, we cannot help but smile at each other. I think my brain even decided to wink at him at some point, and apparently that was very much appreciated because Hinata's eyes are filled with stars.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guessed it, i'm pretty sure that the next chapter is going to be their DATE. I CAN'T WAIT


	12. Final Hour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukki is waiting impatiently. COME ON AAAAHH please kiss already

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to whoever read this fic, left kudos and comments! ily!!!
> 
> my tumblr is happycryingdarlings.tumblr.com for those of you who want to follow me.

I notice that Hinata is checking me out when we change after the cleaning of the gymnasium, he is not at all discreet, that little... The whole team is going to find out if we continue the flirting in here, so I go out fast, walking really slowly so he and the rest of the team can follow.

“Do you have your head in the clouds, tonight, Tsukishima?” It's Sugawara, with the brightest smile he can give.

“Mmh.” I simply reply. He can interpret that the way he wants, I don't really care as long as he leaves me alone in my bubble. I need to concentrate on tonight: I still don't know what we could do together with Hinata.

“I was just talking with Tanaka and Asahi earlier today, and we all think you look... Changed, in a good way, I mean! We appreciate what's doing that to you in your life right now. We hope it goes well with you and... Well. We wish you the best!”

What a weird discourse.

“Thank you, Sugawara-san.” What was he trying to say? I don't get it entirely, but tonight is not the night I will dwell on that.

The others are fast to rejoin with us, and they chatter friendly till we arrive at the coach's shop. He yells at us the usual “TAKE A FULL DINNER AT HOME INSTEAD!” and we leave. Hinata's very silent, at the back of our murder of crows. I lean down to “redo” my laces and try to catch his attention. He stops next to me and I let the others go a little further before uttering my sentence.

“Here at 8, I won't be late so don't be either.” One quick glance at our teammates assures me that they are not paying attention to us at all, so I brush past Hinata's wrist with my hand and lean down for a soft peck on his warm cheek. He smells of meatbuns and ice-cream, but that is far from disgusting me, which it would have in other situations. My heart is beating very erratically, and I feel a burning sensation in my face. Fortunately, it is very dark outside at this hour and I am sure Hinata cannot see my ridiculous blushing.

“You scared me a bit when you said it like that, Tsukki, I promise I will be here on time!” He bows and starts running to his house.

 

***

 

I come back to our rendez-vous spot at precisely 7:55 pm, after changing into non-uniform clothes. Of course, I had chosen my clothes this morning, laid them on my bed so I could change faster after a quick shower. Green t-shirt, black jersey, and black jeans, with my usual white sneakers. I keep my headphones on, until he arrives.

But five minutes pass. He is still nowhere to be seen. “I'll be on time” my ass, that's Hinata we're talking about.

Two songs play.

But what if he finally decided he'd stand me up? That is still a possibility. Maybe Yamaguchi and him have schemed against me, because I hurt Yamaguchi? No, he's never hold a grudge. Except against that kid in elementary school. And those other ones in middle school. Damn it, how had I not seen that coming? Yamaguchi is of course mad at me! And he put up a plan with Hinata to hurt me back in that changing room, three weeks ago?! It was so elaborate that even I couldn't see through...

Another song has ended.

I am a fool for thinking Hinata was capable of loving _me_. He only loves volleyball. I am a joke. It was all a _joke_. I should go back home and hide my tears, wait am I crying yet? No. I'm not, hopefully. But I feel sick to my stomach. I got my hopes up once again, eventhough I swore to myself that I would never believe anything blindly... Damnit, Yamaguchi knew where he needed to hurt me, and he hurt me well! To think that Hinata was _playing me_ the _whole time_! It felt so real... Now I am really mad. Yamaguchi is going to hear about this!

“OI! TSUKKI!”

Hinata's here? I shut off my music and remove my headphones.

“Sorry I got here so late. I was playing with Natsu and didn't notice the time!”

From the sweat on his forehead, I can see that he ran here. He sure is playing well.

“Are you mad I'm late?”

“Is this a joke?” I respond, tit for tat.

“Ah... You're mad, I am so sorry, Tsukki, now I ruined everything between us...”

I try to seem less tense. He definitely looks miserable. Could his feelings be real, after all? Mine sure are, and this time my brains let my heart speak to give him a second chance.

“Not anymore.” I try a smile, he seems to relax a bit. “You're here now, so let's enjoy the evening.”

His smile widens and he takes my hand.

“Yes! I know a place, let's go!” he says confidently. “It's not too far!”

His hand holds mine firmly, as he begins to run. I resist, we had enough sports for today! What's he thinking?

“Oi, calm down, I don't run to places!”

“Oh, okay! We'll walk, then.”

If skipping next to me is called 'walking', then I am the Queen of England. But as long as we hold hands and don't run, I will let him do what he wants.

“That's it!” He points at a dimly lit park. There are some swings and a children's slide. It looks abandoned at first sight, but that is just an impression.

He then pulls me to the swings, invites me on it and takes the next one. I look at the floor, not sure what to do or say, but without a word, he cups my head and makes me look up.

The Moon appears fragile behind the tall trees of the park. The nightsky is beautiful tonight, and I gasp, eyes locked on the thousand stars above us. I suddenly feel a light kiss on my right cheek, and surprised, I look. Hinata is smiling with his eyes.

“It's cool, isn't it?” he asks, grinning more, opening his big bright eyes to look at me.

I turn my head towards the sky again.

“Yeah, it's... so cool...” A light breeze blows and I shudder.

“Tsukki, you know what's cooler?” Hinata asks, almost sheepishly. I grin at him and chuckle softly.

“No?”

He's on my lips in less than a second, and my heart drops in my chest. Our faces hit ungraciously at first, but as the kiss lasts a bit, we accustom with each other's features and it feels better. It probably wasn't more than a few seconds, but my head grew lighter in the time our lips touched. When he motions backward, I follow the movement to hold onto that feeling longer.

“This.”

I can't believe how _smooth_ that was. He actually looked really cool, just like that time he and Kageyama said that they're stronger as long as the other is on the court or something. But this is no time for thoughts, I tasted those lips and even if they made me weak to my bones, I want more. Deep down, although, I laugh at the fact that he, once more, took the first step.

“I'm sorry, what's cooler? I didn't get it.” I pull him closer so he can kiss me again.

“Uh... Kissing? Kissing is cooler, Tsukki!”

What a dork, it kills all the smoothness of the previous thirty seconds! Note to myself: Hinata doesn't get my humour, so tone it down...

“Kissing under a perfect nightsky is cooler, let me show you, you naïve dork.”

I pull hard at the swing and hold him close. The breeze blows and brings his meatbun scent mixed with mint shampoo gel to my nose. I take his head with my left hand, and feel his hair curl up around my fingers. Before I close my eyes, I look at him, eyes half-closed and bright red in the face. He wouldn't go as far as kissing me twice if this was a joke. I lean in, very close, and wait for him to pull me against his rosy lips. It feels amazing again, and my heart misses a beat again, and my butterflies, hello there, flutter all over my body. I breathe in loudly through my nose in ectasy, then feel his hand resting on my shoulder, squeezing ever so lightly.

 

After a while, I sense a smile forming on his lips, which reflects exactly how I feel.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I continue or does it feel like a good end? let me knooowww


	13. Boom.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> stuff and then cheesy fluff! cheesy fluff all the way! kissy kissy play and boom boom aaaaaaaah
> 
> (aka a perf first date.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who haven't read the manga, I tried to avoid as much spoilers as I could, but you'll see very soon in the next episodes what i'm talking about with tsukki's brother.

We pull apart a few seconds later, and he grins widely again, leaning back against the string of the swing. I want to pull him back again, hungry for more.

“Hinata, come here again...”

“Oh?” I see him blush under the moonlight. He laughs.

“I'm not going anywhere, Tsukki!”

“Come on, come back!” I laugh too, and embrace him with both my arms, pulling him almost out of his swing.

“Let me go, Tsukki!” He giggles.

“Only if I can kiss you first!” I tease, hungrier by the second.

He suddenly stops moving, and looks me directly in the eyes. I ease my embrace, lean in but everytime I almost reach his rosy lips, he leans backward, playfully. Suddenly, he stands up and I tip over, falling off my own swing. Hopefully, I catch the string to the other one and I manage to not fall all the way through, but my pride is hurt. Five feet away, Hinata is half worried, half laughing from his mischief.

“Hilarious, Hinata.” I stand up very tall, with an unbemused look on my face. I am apparently very convincing, because Hinata freezes instantly in fear. I smile and relax my shoulders.

“You wanna play, uh?”

His puppy-like smile reappears immediately, and he poses himself as if he is about to run away.

“Catch me Tsukki!” He shouts, as happy as a baby fox in front of a pile of leaves, then motions towards the slide, which he jumps on and climbs the wrong way around. He stands on it with pride and repeats his nuptial call.

Of course, Mr I-am-always-running-and-jumping wanna play like that. Tsk. Who am I to forget that going on a date with this firey fluffball meant exercising, even after a whole day and two volleyball practice sessions? So if he wants to play, he'll have to play by my rules. I approach the slide from the left side, one small step at a time. He prepares himself, watching my every move. A larger brings me right next to the blue slide tower, on the stair side of it, and he reacts quickly, startled. His whole face is radiating with happiness and child-like excitement, and that lights up the playground. As I really don't want to climb on the damn rusty thing, I force him, through ingenious movesets, to jump back on land. I almost catch him before he jumps on the brick wall surrounding us and the park.

“Hey Tsukki! Did you play 'the floor is lava' when you were little?”

“A long time ago, yeah. I bet you still do, though.”

“Yeah, with Natsu. But my mom says I need to stop because I turn the living room upside down when I play too. Natsu's a nice player, she jumps from the table to the sofa sometimes. Maybe I shouldn't have shown her that! Haha” He scratches the back of his head in embarassement.

“Tsukki, you're going to melt if you stay in the lava, COME HERE ON THE WALL WITH ME!”

What a child, really. But nonetheless, I hop and sit on the brickwall. He is now walking on it towards me, both arms parallel to the floor, pretending he is a tightrope walker. When he reaches me, he sits and stretches. I take my chance, turn his head towards mine, and kiss him gently again.

“What about you, do you have brothers or sisters?”

“Yeah. I got a brother.”

“Older or younger?”

“Older.”

“Oh so cool, I wish I had an older brother! But it's just me and my little sister!”

“Yeah, I'd rather wish I didn't have an older brother. Tsk.” I cannot help but frown at the thought of Akiteru.

“Really? Why? I bet he taught you how to play volleyball and stuff!”

“... More like he betrayed me. Whatever. I don't wanna talk about that.”

Hinata must be sensing the anger that I still feel to this day since I discovered Akiteru's little secret because he peeks at me with a sad look and stays silent for a time. I wish I didn't feel angry about it, it's a past thing, but Akiteru really ruined it. He was my hero, but I lost faith in everything when I saw him...

“So anyway, what music do you listen to? You're always rocking the headphones, even now.”

“Hum. Er... Lots of things, actually. You?”

“I don't really know anything, beside J-Pop, what's on the radio and stuff... But I do like that singer Hatsune Miku! I've watched some of her videoclips, and she is very cute too! I wish I could meet her some day... I've even dreamt about it three or four times! I bet she smells like blueberries!”

“She... smells like blueberries? Hinata...” I begin slowly, suspicious of a new kind of prank. If what I understand is correct, that one brain cell that is holding Hinata together thinks that... “You do know that...” Oh, he's got that very cute and also very dumb curious look. “Hatsune Miku is a Vocaloid?”

“Oh yeah! I know that.” He grins at me. Something is wrong, though.

“Do you know what a Vocaloid is?” I see his face change just enough for me to know i've found the flaw. This is a time where I have to choose between mocking Hinata's naïveness with half-condescendence or letting him remain naïve and unaware. But, nevermind how adorable this is, he thinks Hastune Miku is a real person, I... I cannot resist. So I blurt out:

“She doesn't exist. She is a fictitious character whose voice has been made up through computer engineering. She. Isn't. Real. Sorry Hinata-kun.”

His whole body shivers and I can hear the dreams shatter inside his mind.

“WhaaAAAT???”

His very soul is probably crushed. What an awful friend I am. Or boyfriend? Too soon to say that anyway. He clasps his hands on my shoulders, tears fill his brown eyes and his mouth trembles with emotion.

“Hatsune Miku isn't a real person?” His voice is trembling.

“No, I'm really sorry, she is just an image. But I agree, the concerts they organise for her fans are quite impressive. That's definitely a show I want to see before I die.”

“So she has... No smell? No blueberries?”

“No blueberries. But the concerts are real, and I bet the fans smell like Nishinoya's socks after a game.” I chuckle at my own joke, and he does too. He looks at me with defeated eyes, but smiles nonetheless. It quickly fades away, though, and I begin to worry about our time together. So far it wasn't very conclusive, beside the kisses on the swings. And I want to reiterate that kind of thing in the near future, so I better up my game.

“Look, Hinata” I say, “Nevermind about Miku-chan. I'll let you listen to something even cooler, to make it up to you, alright?”

Saying so, I put my headphones on his ears. That is a first, and even if I am quite not sure he can take care of them even for a few songs, I let him arrange them so they fit him best. I look for the 'favorites' playlist on the music device and play the first song. It's the 1975's _Chocolate._

 

“Hey now call it a split 'cause you know that you will  
Oh you bite your friends like chocolate  
You say, we'll go where nobody knows, with guns hidden under our petticoat  
No we're never gunna' quit it, no we're never gunna' quit it no

Now we run run away from the boys in the blue, and my car smells like chocolate  
Hey now think about what to do, think about what to say, think about how to think  
Pause it play, pause it play, pause it...”

 

“I REALLY LIKE THE MELODY!” Hinata screams.

I turn down the volume and tell him that I do too. He is bobbing his head to the beat, exactly like I imagined him doing it. When the song is over, I let him choose a random song on my device. We are much closer physically now, and I can feel his warm arm against mine. He seems to like most of the songs on my playlist, and cheers up in no time. I lean in even closer and eventhough I am still taller while sitting, I put my forehead on his shoulder and rub delicately. He turns his face to me, putting on a shining smile. Now his forehead is on mine and we look at each other. The next song is playing in his ears, I hear it too, very faintly. He's so beautiful, up close like that. I cannot believe how cheesy I am, but I start listening to the song very carefully, and rub my nose on Hinata's, waiting for the climax. When it is finally the last moment before it, I take a deep breath and suddenly press my lips on his in a much too romantic kiss.

Boom.

It is perfect. I hate to love cheesy, but it is fantastically perfect. We sudder together. Hinata grips my hands and I kiss him once more, with more passion. Butterflies explode and fireworks fly away through my barely open mouth, probably going to meet Hinata's own fluttering feelings inside his chest.

We continue kissing for the rest of the song, and the next. Then he asks me for more songs by a specific artist and I show him the albums I downloaded on here. I tell him about the singers, bands and djs I listen to most, and puncuate every sentence with a small or long kiss. I literally cannot get enough of his soft lips. All the while, we caress each other's hands, and sometimes I even let my fingers slip through his thick hair.

As surely as the sun sets in the west, time passes and soon I need to go back home. He walks me back to our rendez-vous corner, holding my giant hand in his little paw. I am not sure but he walks with a weird pace, like he is skipping. Boy, that kid can't stay in place, that is for sure.

“Well,” he begins hesitantly.

“It was a fun night, Hinata-kun. And thank you for walking me back, you didn't need to.”

“Yes it was real fun! And now, you... you can call me Shouyou, if you want to!” he says, blushing and tilting his head to the side.

“Let's do it again?” I cut in: my mind hasn't acknowledged he was still speaking. I am too eagerly in need of more of those teenage-dream-like moments. “I mean, do you want to go out with me again... Shouyou?”

His eyes glow in the street light, more setting-sun orange than ever, and I perceive his eagerness too.

“Yes! Let's go out again! And uhm... Can I call you Kei?”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the song i refer to is of course Chocolate by the 1975, listen to it here:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHk5SWVO4p8
> 
> AND thank you for reading this fic! It makes me HAPPY, like really really


	14. That's what bestfriends are for

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata and Yachi come together with Tsukki and Yams to eat their lunch.  
> Tsukki is delighted: he gets to play Cupid...

“Hello, Kei!” he chimes in.

“I told you to not call me that. 'Tsukki' is already enough.”

He pouts a little but rejoices soon as I gesture towards the chair next to mine. We decided to eat lunch together.

“By the way, I was thinking that since Yamaguchi is here with us too, maybe Yachi-chan could join us?” then he added, in a whisper into my ear “So he won't be a third-wheel and feel super hurt because you know... His feelings and stuff.”

Sometimes, I wonder if Hinata is indeed a genius or if he does those things just randomly and they happen to resolve in the most perfect way possible.

“Of course, Yachi-san is more than welcomed. Isn't that right, Yamaguchi?”

I turn to my bestfriend and clearly notice his face turning paler and then immediately bright red. His freckles are even almost undistinguishable because of the shade of it. Nevertheless, he manages to utter some syllables, which I assume mean “Okay, what a great idea.” or something like it.

“Yachi! You can come with us!”

She was waiting outside of the door, her bento in her hand and an impatient smile on her face. Hinata takes his place next to me and I try to kiss him before he can engulf his first bite but he stops me and backs away a little.

“Not in school! Couples are not allowed to show affection in here!” He giggles anyway, because I hold him in place with a hand on his waist, and it tickles him. “Tsukki!”

“Tsukishima-san...” Yachi begins, “I've never seen you smile so bright!”

“Well Yachi-san,” I reply, “You too seem to glow very beautifully, today. Isn't she, Yamaguchi?”

Yamaguchi swallowed his food too fast to answer and almost choked.

“Yash! You l-look... You pretty!”

“Oh boys, aren't you the sweetest! You're going to make me blush...”

Yachi turns her head over to hide her pink cheeks, and Yamaguchi turns to me with a half terrified, half angry look. I chuckle internally. Today's lunch is going to be very funny.

“So Yachi-san,” I continue, “Do you have a boyfriend?”

Hinata looks at me, open-mouthed, Yamaguchi struggles with his milk and lets it escape on the floor, and Yachi buries herself in her onigiri, now as red as can be. She clears her throat, inhales deeply, looks at me right in the eyes, very serious-looking, before uttering the smallest “no”.

“And are you interested in anyone?”

Yamaguchi, who is has been looking furiously at me and whom I go on ignoring gleefully, hits my shin with the tip of his shoe with all his might. It hurts a little but I show nothing of it.

“Hmm, uh... I... uh...” She stutters, blushing heavily, not mistaking anyone on the table of her apparent crush on someone.

“Oh... May I ask who it is?” I focus on looking calm and friendly while Yamaguchi is pounding my foot on the floor, pretending to kill me with his eyes. Hinata, who is still busy with his lunch, doesn't notice any of this.

“It's... too personal, Tsukishima-kun...” she eventually answers, cutting this conversation short.

“You're right!” Yamaguchi finally stops crushing my bones. “You don't have to answer to Tsukki's _mean_ questions!” and proceeds to smile his biggest friendliest grin in her direction.

“Oh but,” I interject as sarcastically as I can. “I wasn't being mean, I just wanted to get to know our new manager. Don't you want to get to know her too, Yamaguchi-kun?” I wink at the both of them, waiting for their reaction. Yachi relaxes a little whereas Yamaguchi tenses up.

“Ah, I'm full!” Hinata blurts out. “What's up with you guys?”

I turn to my boyfriend, who awakes from his glutonny enduced transe just in time.

“Shouyou, don't you think they'd make a cute couple?” I tilt my head to the side, squeeze my eyes and chuckle softly. Is this game going too far? Who cares, I'm having so much fun. I risk a glance at our friends: one is blank and has probably stopped breathing for a minute or two –Yamaguchi–, and the other's eyes are rounder and bigger than a volleyball –Yachi.

“Kei, that would be amazing! We could go on double dates!”

“I told you to not call me by my given name. But yes. Double dates.”

“My bestfriend and your bestfriend! And us!”

“Perfect scenario, right?” I giggle, hand in front of my mouth. But a quick peek at Yamaguchi tells me that I may have gone too far. It was too hard on his poor little heart and it is as if we can see the lifeless teenager's soul hanging out of his mouth. He probably died of embarassement, so to say. Fortunately, you cannot really die from such a petty cause and I decide it is best if we change the subject.

“By the way, very good job on the posters, Yachi-san. They look so cool, I almost took one home.”

“Ah thank you Tsukishima-kun! Bu... WAAAAH! If you take the posters, no one else will see them! And the club needs the money!”

“Me too!” my little fluffball proudly says. “I really wanted to take them home to show them to my mom and my sister! I look amazing.”

I seize the occasion to compliment him.

“You do look superb.” Your slender figure and your musculature highlighted by perfect lighting thanks to the tremendous work of Yachi-san...

“You're not bad either...” He replies.

While Hinata and I are busy eyeing each other desirefully after that sensual exchange of words, Yamaguchi too seize the opportunity and finally starts a real conversation with his crush.

“So hum... You, like, photograph things?”

“Yes! I've always liked photography. I've read a lot of books about lighting, room scenography and how different lenses work... I've also tried my hand with computer programs that help me obtain the best out of a photograph, but I still need a lot of practice with those. My mom helps me, sometimes.”

“That's nice of her...”

“She's not always nice! Most times she says mean things about it then I... Well, I don't want to bother you about it. Anyway, it's almost time to go back to class, so... Hinata-kun?”

“Ah, yes! Uh, thank you for letting us have lunch with you!” He stands up and bows. She does too.

“Sure. Let's eat together again on Monday. If you want to, Yachi-san?” I ask, as friendly and honest I can be.

“I'll uh... I'll think about it! See you this evening at practice!” She disappears behind the door.

Hinata looks one last time at me, winks and disappears too. It is unhealthy to not be able to kiss your beloved one at school, I feel frustrated. However, I sense someone's heavy look on my left, so I resign in turning toward him.

“WHAT WAS THAT TSUKKI?” He looks angrier than Kageyama, it is hard to admit.

“Relax, I just broke the ice.”

“BROKE THE ICE? YOU DROWNED ME IN SHAME! I have NEVER been THIS EMBARRASSED in my LIFE!”

“That's what bestfriends are for, right?”

“WHAT?”

I chuckle, frankly amused by his overreaction.

“TSUKKI, DON'T YOU DARE!”

“But it _was_ funny, wasn't it? And now, you're sure that the road is safe, she doesn't have anyone! Court her.”

“I... I WILL! But that's NOT THE POINT, Tsukki...” He resists two seconds before smiling. How hard can it be to keep a straight face? Too hard for Yamaguchi. He's happy and he has me to thank for that.

I win.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there wasn't a lot of TsukkiHina in this chapter, but the reason is I really wanted to write this kind of scenario. I hope you had fun!


	15. How to Not Begin a Relationship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second time Tsukki and Hinata go out. Awkward. Silent. Ah those weird teenage dates!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I am back with a little chapter :)

That night, after practice and when the others aren't looking, I invite Hinata to go on an other date with me. There's a café, not too far from school, where we can grab a drink and talk. I hope that if he's in a place with many other people, he'll behave less loudly than usual. Plus the music is nice there. He blushes and accepts, nodding enthusiastically. We agree that we should meet in front of it tomorrow afternoon. As soon as it is settled, we go back to cleaning the gymnasium. I cannot help a quick glance in his direction, and catch his own glance back at me. He truns bright red, but smiles at me nonetheless. His gorgeous smile. And his eyes, full of happiness and wonder. And his wet hair from practising too hard again, yet there are always two or three curls that resist and stick up, no matter what. He turns around. Darn, those ass-cheeks.

“Tsukki!” Yamaguchi whispers. “Ahem! You're not helping at all, Tsukki...”

I shake my head and hurry up to finish mopping the floor, but I'll keep that image in mind for later.

 

On Saturday morning, I study hard. I can hardly concentrate, but homeworks need to be done and over with before I leave. My hands, though, are restless. I tap, which is already annoying when someone else does it but is even more irritating now, because as much as I want to stop, I can't. Trying to compose myself back, and relax in order to get this stupid text done, I breathe in and sigh. A cup of tea might help me.

 

It doesn't. I can't sit still.

And relaxing minimal music only makes it worse.

I sigh and grumble very audibly.

This song is bullshit, I choose another more upbeat one. I turn the volume up.

Up. Up again. Immersing myself in it. Taking in every note and every beat.

I shake my head to the melody, my hands move on their own accord. My legs want me to stand up.

That is what I do, and now I am dancing my heart out. I'm moving all around, jumping and drumming in the air.

Then, caught in the moment, I jump on my bed and jump up repeatedly.

Until I hit my head on the low ceiling. I am too big for that shit. I curse out loud but the speakers cover my words.

I lie down on my bed, and put my legs up in the air.

At first, I pretend running, eyes closed so I concentrate harder on the fast beat of the next song, then I just move them around, following the melody. Flexed, stretched up, to the side and again in whatever order.

When the song ends, I am panting. I get up, turn the volume down and take a gulp of water. I breathe out and feel relaxed now, so it's time to focus.

 

***

 

I notice Hinata's bike outside the café, but without its owner, so I enter. I spot him before he waves at me, on a table, quite in a corner but not too hidden from sight either.

“I'm sorry I didn't wait for you outside! I pedaled too fast getting here, so I was really thirsty so I ordered a soda. I was almost half an hour early, though. But I got to pick a good seat, didn't I?”

Indeed, when I looked around, 90percent of the tables were occupied. Saturday afternoon was crowdier than I thought it would be.

“That is well thought of you. Now, hot or cold beverage?”

“Erm... I... You know what, I'll have what you're having!” he beamed.

I quickly get back at the table after ordering our two black teas with apricot zest and a hint of cinnamon. Hinata looks as impatient as I was earlier today: as I, he can't sit still on the wooden chair. When I sit down, pull my chair closer to the table – and to him – he steals me a kiss on the cheek. I wasn't prepared for that and so I feel my cheeks getting warmer, and a little stingy where he put his soft lips. I smile faintly, for once not knowing what to say.

The drinks arrive in our silence, and I pay, quickly shoving the bill inside the maid's hand before Hinata can even reach his money.

“Be careful, it is very hot!” she warns us.

“It smells so good, Tsukki!” Hinata sticks his face above the fuming cup, taking a big sniff off of it.

“This tea mix is called Queen of Saba. It's my favorite.”

“I did imagine you a great tea drinker.” he replies, then burns his tongue while trying to get his first sip.

“Hm. It helps me relax.” –  _ Or not. _

Then silence falls upon us again.

“I like this place because I find the music quite nice, in here.” I say after a full minute.

“It is!” the redhead shakes in his seat. “I listened to the bands you recommended, by the way. I like them a lot. Especially the  _ jingz  _ and  _ wapwapwaah _ !” He mimes a guitar in the air and chuckles.

I have absolutely no idea what song or even what band he is talking about, but I never understand when he is talking in onomatopoeia anyway. I nod nonetheless, careful not to start an unnecessary discussion about how to use actual words and the power of fully constructed sentences.

His smile fades slightly when the conversation stops a third time.

Why is this date so awkward? Everything went by smoothly at the park, what was different here? Thinking about it, I take a sip of my now drinkable tea.

“I like your t-shirt.” he blurts out.

“Oh, thank you... I actually got it from my brother.” I answer.

“Ah yes, your big brother...” He frowns a little.

A very long minute passes.

“So, do you like your tea?” I ask politely.

“Yes! I like the fruity taste. Apricot, right?”

“Apricot zest, that's it.”

We look at each other, and if I am not deceived, I perceive longing. Hinata scrutinizes me, watching every corner of my being. To be quite honest, I feel a little embarrassed.

“I... really... like your t-shirt.”

“You said that already, Shouyou. And it's just a piece of clothes. But I'm... glad you like it?” I try, not knowing where this conversation will lead us. From what I can see, nowhere. I have got to turn this around, somehow, but then I realise that I know absolutely nothing interesting about him, nothing that I can ask him about. He fidgets his fingers on his cup handle.

“So... Shouyou... What did you do this morning?”

“Oh, nothing really worth mentioning. I helped my mom with the laundry. What about you, what did you do?”

“Homework. I'm all done now, so I can kick back the rest of the week end.”

“Argh. I don't want to think about homework... I haven't done anything yet...” he admits, eyes blank, probably thinking of the harduous task awaiting him. I chuckle. Of course, he wouldn't. It's written all over his face.

 

We struggle with conversation during the rest of our time in the café, even though at some point we held hands and it felt slightly less awkward.

He accompanies me home, since I live closer, and we don't talk much while walking, but sometimes he throws happy glances at me and I reply with a smile or a wink. Winking felt weird, but he seemed to like it, so all is well, I guess.

When we arrive near my house, we stop and he puts his bike down to approach me. I pull my hands out of my pockets to be able to hold his little paws before we say goodbye. He tucks at my coat, so I lean down. I get really nervous all of a sudden, but as soon as our lips touch, it feels like home. We kiss for quite a long time, and my legs begin to hurt, so I sit down on a nearby bench, and pull him on my lap. We continue in silence, and the kissing is so good. His soft but firm lips against mine, and his tongue twirling in my mouth. It is a bit wet, but passionnate, and I enjoy every floppy second of this moment. His hands are free to move around a little, and they often come back tugging at my hair, sometimes too they dare motion downward to the back of my neck, and even on my back, very sheepishly. When we part for air, my glasses are fogged by his warm breath and we giggle, then go on even more deeply.

As the sun begins to set, we eventually kiss each other a last goodbye, and promise to hang out on Monday.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> story time: this is so my first date, i told the guy that i liked his shirt twice because we just couldn't start a proper conversation and he deadpan told me "you said that already." then a comment so rude about me being uninteresting. We still ended up dating for two months tho.
> 
> but it brings me to the situation here. Tsukki hasn't developped actual feelings for Hinata. This is just his hormones and the dreams that fucked up with his mind. So I might end this fic on a sad note, because they just can't work out, can they? Of course kissing is fine and then they think that they're in love because it feeeeelss gooood, but they just don't have anything in common... So a heads up , if you want a happy ending, I'll give you one then say "okay this is the happy ending, but be ready for the true end in the next chapter and prepare your little heart OR just stop reading here" or something.
> 
> It's not for the next, like, 4 to 5 chapters though. I still want to write a lot of fluff before and also probably smut? I'll warn beforehand of course.
> 
> Otherwise thank you for your patience. I couldn't wrap my head around how to continue the writing for a time.


	16. Blooming Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yamaguchi is heartbroken again, and Tsukki doesn't know what to do. Otherwise, his relationship with Hinata is doing fine by now, and they are opening up.  
> also a movie night! It's not very detailed, but I leave that to your imagination :3

It's been a few weeks since Hinata and I went out on that failed café date, and surprisingly enough, we're still together. Over the next days, he seemed to relax a bit and I pulled through with opening up to him a little. I'll never _ever_ tell him about my dreams involving him, though. He wouldn't be able to shut up about it, especially the first one. How did I come to like Hinata? I still don't understand. Sometimes my wet dreams make me feel all kinds of sensations, deep enough to make me cum in my sleep. I wake up naked and covered in my own slick. Some people, when they have nightmares, wake up panting and afraid, even paranoid. I've often woken up not remembering my dream but only feeling vaguely sad, uneasy, or even happy, as if my body remembered the last thing my dreamy self was thinking. Who knows what happens in the brain when you dream, really. Is the world of dreams a second reality? When I dreamt of us for the first time, as amazing and bizarre as it sounds, it felt like it. And if I recall well, I even wondered drowsily where Hinata had gone when I found myself waking up alone in my bed, though just for a millisecond before realizing the weirdness – and horror – of it all. That morning I had no idea how bad I was going to get. To think that my own body and brains worked against me towards turning me into a hormonal Hinata-loving mess... Look at me now: head over heels for the Sun itself.

And it looks like he is too. He gets a little too cuddly way too often, and when he thinks I'm not looking, out the corner of my eye I see his admirative and loving stare, which feels so much nicer than anything. Yamaguchi used to look at me like that too, but I had always thought of it as a friendly gesture. Tsk. Me, the utterly clever Tsukishima Kei couldn't even recognize the apparence of love when I first saw it. Well that doesn't matter anymore, now. Yamaguchi is finally grabbing life by the wrists and asking Yachi-san out. I wonder how that'll go. She's cute, but not half as cute as my boyfriend. My little boyfriend. Tsk. I'm smiling like an idiot again!

The buzzer of my phone wakes me up from my train of thoughts.

 **Shouyou:** _I brought you a little surprise as a thank you for your surprise from yesterday!!!!! See you at lunch!!!!!! (~^ u ^ ~)/_

 **Tsukki-kun :D !!! :** _You devil, you're turning this into an endless circle of meaningless gifts. I hope it's cake, I won't accept anything else._

 **Shouyou:** _I'm not! Haha!!!! Craving cake, are we???? Maybe it's cake, or maybe it isn't cake!!! I don't know!!!!_

 **Tsukki-kun :D !!! :** _You're not even making sense, Hina-kun. See you at lunch_

“I really hope it's cake.” says my grumbling stomach. I feel my cheeks blushing slightly at the prospect of meeting Hinata and his surprise later, before being interrupted by Yamaguchi appearing at the classroom door. He looks as if a truck had rolled on his head twice, before spilling its cargo on it. He quickly comes to me and sits at his desk, eyes watering.

“She rejected you, didn't she? Sorry.”

“She said... that she was in… love... with... someone else already...” he hushes. “I feel so dumb for asking her... What was I thinking?” His voice cracks a little and becomes squeaky as he raises the question.

“Sorry.” I don't know what to say, but he doesn't acknowledge that anyway and rambles away his self-proclaimed stupidity.

“All I... I only wanted to be... happy, and in love... Like you, Tsukki!” He looks at me, and I can detect sadness coupled with incomprehension and a little bit of anger in his tearful emerald eyes. He continues, whispering to himself: “Why does no-one love me like I love them?” His voice cracks and my heart breaks a little. I can do absolutely nothing to help my friend, and I know that deep down, Yachi's rejection only brought back how I myself rejected him, not so long ago, and how horrible it must have felt. Love is cruel for Yamaguchi Tadashi.

“I'm so sorry Yamaguchi...”

He only looks back at the front of the class while wiping his forming tears and running nose with the sleeve of his gakuran, and seems to chew back at the feelings eating him up. He looks brave, even when shattered in a million pieces.

“Plenty of fish in the sea.” I utter. “The lantern shark, the eel, mudskiper, pipefish, perch, tuna, big-eye sand tiger, seabass... Shall I list every species I know until you smile again or? 'Cause it's a long one. Not to boast, _of course._ ” I flash him the special little smile I reserve for special occasions such as comforting my best friend. It seems to work, but we abruptedly get cut off: class begins.

 

***

 

At lunchtime, Hinata rushes in my classroom with a smug grin on his childlike face, straight to the chair next to mine. Yamaguchi excuses himself, lying about going to ask a teacher for some more explanations. I can't blame him.

“You'll NEVER guess what I made you.” He grins even wider.

“Well, let me see, then.” I tease him. I've hung out with Hinata and put up with his behaviour long enough now that I know that he wants me to guess (but will tell me before I can make a second guess).

“Guess first!”

“Let's eat our bento first, then you can give me the cake you baked for me last night.”

He chuckles. “It's not cake, you guessed wrong! It's actually... a... DRAWING!”

Before my eyes, he unfolds the shittiest drawing a child can make. I don't even know what's going on in the picture, and it looks like Natsu helped, but I am not even sure.

“It's us as crows playing volleyball. There's you...”

“Why am I looking so distorted?”

“You're just tall, but I didn't want to just give you tall legs, so I drew your body really tall as well... And there is me, spiking! Look!”

“And what's that... Thing on your... Uh... Wing?”

“A volleyball of course! Tsukki, do you need glasses? Oh wait!” He chuckles at the tease, but I don't even mind. I've been getting called “four-eyes” since I came out of the womb, so I'm bullet proof against glasses jokes.

“It's oval shaped, how was I supposed to know it's a _ball_?!”

“I'm not that good at drawing round objects!” He scratches the back of his neck. “I spent all evening drawing this, and I'm really proud of the result, except for some details, but I needed to rest otherwise I would have missed the morning practice.”

“All evening on this... Shouyou...” I was speechless.

“I liked the drawing of us you gave me yesterday so much that I wanted to draw us too, but I can't draw realistically, or even manga features, so I thought I would draw us as crows!”

Indeed, the day before, I was doodling and sketching as he came in for lunch. He liked the drawing and couldn't keep his eyes off of it so I gave it to him, without thinking much about it. It was kind of good but not as good as the drawings I keep away from strangers' eyes at home. Those, he will never see. As for his masterpiece, well...

“Do you like it?” He asks, eagerly.

“It's really lame, Hina-kun. I'll hang it on my wall.” After all, it's the thought that counts. And I avoided telling him that I actually love it eventhough it's terrible. I look dead on the outside, but I am a bundle of fluffy mess inside. I resist the urge of kissing him to death in front of the class, as he said it was making him uncomfortable showing off in school, but I think of it no less: when we're alone, he'll get the 'thank you' he deserves.

At my response, Hinata beams even more and starts eating joyfully, putting sauce all over his happy face.

“By the way,” I change the subject, shoving my present gracefully in my binder. “You still coming over tonight?”

“Oh yes, movie night! I'm so looking forward to seeing Harry Potter! My mom even said that I could spend the night, as there's no school tomorrow.”

“I still cannot believe you've never seen it. Biggest franchise of our generation.”

He shoves a mouthful of rice in his mouth, and I cannot understand what he's saying.

“Uh-uh.” I answer. I've given up on telling him to chew and swallow before talking, it consumes too much of the little amount of energy I have.

 

***

 

“ _I'm not going home. Not really...”_ Harry says, one hand on the handle of the Hogwarts Express and his gaze on the tall figure of the school's castle.

“It was AMAZING!” he screams, before I shut his mouth with my hand.

“Shh! My parents are asleep, you idiot!” We giggle and begin to kiss, lightly at first then passionately as the credits roll down on the TV.

Suddenly, he stops, draws back a little and we stare intensely at each other. His mouth twitches, opens and closes a couple of times.

“What?” I inquire, pulling him closer to let my nose touch his.

“No... Nothing!” He smiles widely, and nuzzles further.

We kiss on and on until we both feel tired.

“I promised my mom that you'll sleep on a spare futon, but since we haven't put it up yet and it's in my parents' room... I won't wake them up.”

That move wasn't planned out, but it is welcomed by us both.

“I'll sleep on the floor then.” He says.

“Silly. Sleep on my bed. Don't take all the covers.”

“We've... Never slept in the same bed together.” He blushes.

“No. There's a first for everything.” I act casually, but I actually am looking forward to an excuse to cuddle up and feel his body against mine. He, on the other hand, is looking a little too shy.

“There's something wrong?”

“N-No... I was just... Uh... I'm...”

“Spill it.” I take his fragile body in my arms and lay a kiss on his left temple. His hair smells like my vanilla shampoo and it's making me blush a little, thinking of him in my bathroom, his soapy skin under the shower stream.

“I don't want to... sex... yet...” He whispers, his voice getting lower by the syllable. His body shakes a little too.

I'm taken aback, obviously stopped in my blooming fantasy. “Well, okay. I won't touch you where you don't want to be touched. Let's just cuddle up and sleep.” I'm a little disappointed that there won't even be grinding involved, but let's be real: we're fifteen. Hormonal, yes, but not foolish.

We get on my bed, make ourselves comfortable and kiss a little before saying good night.

 

***

 

 

_Our charms teacher, Daichi-Sensei, approaches our table. “Very good hand motion, Tsukishima-kun!” I thank him, and look at my partner, who's mumbling the formula without much conviction._

“ _Hinata!” I scold him “You should put more heart into it!”_

“ _Whatever, we don't even have anything to actually practice our spells on!”_

“ _Well,” Daichi-Sensei cuts in, “Now, you all have feathers in front of you, try this simple spell on them. Begin!” Everyone in the classroom points their wand at the feather and recite. Hinata tries and fails, because his movement is untidy and his pronunciation is wrong. I correct him and he dares me to show him my abilities, which I do, on the first attempt._

_At flying practice, though, Hinata shines. His flight is flawless, and boy, so fast! He even catches me and helps me back up when I fall upside down on my broom._

_We're working in the library. Suddenly, I feel a foot grinding on mine. I raise my head and see his smirk. We quickly find a quiet place behind shelves to snoggle. His breath smells like vanilla cake._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't decided on the sad or happy ending yet, so here's some fluff and the next chapters are probably going to be fluff too! :)


End file.
